I think my house's wires are connected to the DB with ELCB and attached to one earth rod, the rod is about 3-4 meters from the DB

Thanks Ozak.

My house installed grounding rod...about 10-12 feet below the ground, it was near the DB area in my last renovation in 2015. But not sure how good is the grounding reading? How can we check ourself?

I received a quote to install a SPD (class 1) and grounding check at about RM1k, SPD (class 2) + groundimg check at around RM500.

I wish I can do DIY like you...cost saving

Anyone who understands what Ben Franklin did can understand what works.  The electric current goes from a cloud (ie 3 kilometers up) to earth borne charges (ie 4 kilometers distant).  Why is that complicated?  Either that electric current makes that 7 kilometer connection inside a building.  Or it makes the same connection outside via that earth ground rod.  It was always that layman simple - as first explained in primary school science.

Now, how good is that connection.  If lightning wants to use the building, then a lightning rod connects it to earth on a path that remains outside the structure.  No damage to a structure.

If lightning wants to use appliances inside a building, then a 'whole house' protector connects it to earth on a path that remains outside the structure.  No damage to appliances.  Why is that so hard?

If a protector's earth ground is not single point earth ground, then one has invited lightning to be inside - destructively via appliances.  Multiple earth grounds (ie plung another grounding rod at the garden side) makes appliance damage likely.  A surge, incoming on AC utility wires will use the other ground rod to connect to distant earthborne charges.  That connection will be destructively through appliances.

No protector does protection.  Without a good grounding in earth, the device will not work; will not be effective.  Because no protector does protection.  This is very hard for people educated by advertising.  A plug-in protector does not have that low impedance (ie less than 3 meter) connection to earth.  So it does significantly less or no effective protection.  And can even make appliance damage easier.  A protector must connect low impedance (ie hardwire has no sharp bends) to single point earth ground.  To the one and only earth ground electrode that all incoming utility cables connect to.

If any incoming utility cable does not first connect to that same earth ground (ie directly or via a protector), then appliance protection is compromised.

Lightning rods never make lightning strikes more likely.  That has always been an urban myth promoted by scammers who promote useless products such as ESE devices.  Lightning rods are always implemented everywhere that lightning damage cannot harm a building. That direct strike is going to happen with or without that lightning rod.  A building owner decides to let it strike the building or to connect to earth harmlessly via a lightning rod.    Only ESE scams and other outright lies deny what lightning rods have done successfully for over 250 years.  Connect the inevitable direct lightning strike to earthborne charges on a path that is not destructive.

If any of this is complex, then 1) it is new, and 2) one has not yet read it at least three times.  Even a genius never understand something new until after, at least, three rereads.  It may take more rereads if one was educated by lies from plug-in protectors, ESE manufacturers, advertising, wild speculation, or hearsay.

Why do we teach what Ben Franklin demonstrated in primary school science?  Concepts of lightning protection have alwaus been that simple.  However, if educated by lies (ie plug-in protectors), then comprehension is harder.  Unlearning those lies (from plug-in protectors or ESE manufacturers) makes learning challenging.

Protection is always about the path a current will take from cloud to earthborne charges.  Only a human makes that decision - to either have damage or to connect that current on a path that causes no damage.  We know this for both lightning rods and for protectors.  Both are only as effective as its earth ground electrode.  Facilities that cannot have damage routinely earth hardwire connections or protectors on a low impedance (ie hardwire must not be inside metallic conduit) path to single point earth ground.  Anything that does not connect that transient low impedance (ie less than 3 meters) to single point earth ground will never answer the relevant question.  Where do hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate?  It is only hard when one has been scammed by advertising and myths that promote scams (ie plug-in protectors).

Wall 'power point' safety ground is not, cannot be, and never will be earth ground.  Difficult for many to grasp.  That wall receptacle safety ground is not and will never be an earth ground.  Better is even more electrodes at the same common point.  Protectors must have a low impedance (ie less than 3 meter) connection to single point earth ground.  Otherwise a protector does nothing useful.

Lightning strike your house is very very rare. But install the rod ontop the house is increase the percentage. Our house here is not a big house. And all the wire is conceal in the wall. If the rod it not enough to take the strong lightning, it will travel all over the house wiring.

The conventional design for a building lightning protection system is a rolling sphere approach with Franklin rods. The lightning rods at the highest points of the structure connection via 25x3mm2 copper tape straight down the structure to an 16mm dia min earth copper rod to an earth impedance of below 10 Ohm.
Sometimes your electrical supplier can advise you as these are standard JKR building design.

The minimum earth conductor is 10mm2 for a 40 Amp main incoming and 16mm2 for 63Amp mains. For residential design.

You can refer to the attached guidelines or to Malaysian Building By-Law 1988 for confirmation as  for me this all was a long time ago.

Hopefully I've uploaded the right attachement but note the Bahasa Malaysia version is the latest and my copy is an old code but should still be applicable.

Best wishes.

Thanks Richard.

What we want to know is, it is advisable to install the lightning rod ontop of your house roof?  Or better away from the house.

A 10mm size earth wire to the grounding rod you mean ? I think many developer failed to do that.

Yes, at the highest point and usually the TV and Radio antenna s are directly grounded. You will notice the tape around any government high structures or poles

Lightning protection is via copper tape is 25mnX3mm not 10mm2. The larger size to cater for lightning strike

DB home earthing can be a minimum 10mm2 pvc green wire
The sizing is calculated for the short circuit current
It's an estimate actually 

Yes many housing development do not bother as there isn't too many people aware of this code and how to check the DB earth's impedance.

Maybe it's all old school.

Nice to see brother Westom still around. Hahaha

Yup. My parent apartment outside end lot wall have this copper tape running down the building. With a pvc pipe cover at the ground floor wall.

Still fried many equipment during storm.

What we want to know is, it is advisable to install the lightning rod ontop of your house roof?  Or better away from the house.

1. Check grounding first (cost +/- RM500)
2. Solve your grounding issue if any. (Don’t know the cost)

Follow that wire from DB to electrode.  For example, if it goes up over a foundation and down to an earthing electrode, then protection is compromised.  It is unnecessary too long.  It has sharp bends over the foundation.  And it is best routed away from other non-grounding wires.

Better would also put another electrode maybe somewhere before the original one.  Since those are cheap and it would expand and make more conductive that earth ground.

Whether that is necessary is a function of neighborhood history.  For example, a transient typically happens once every seven years.  Ten or twenty years of neighborhood history would better quantify risk.

Even the ELCB must be protected.  Better is to connect an incoming transient to earth so that it does not go through the ELCB.  An electrician can better determine what local codes also require.

Every new house has a ground rod which is a must state in the country electrical rule.

What we do is add an additional ground rod around the house to get fully (or more) protect. An advantage if the developer doesn't do a good job on the ground rod.

I see a very poor job in my house ground rod when I get the house. They just wrap the copper wire around the steel rebar which is not a proper grounding rod. And the wire is 4mm size which is not a proper size.

If your house ground is landfill, the deep might not be enough. It has a high resistance. Plung as deep as possible. The contractor has the earth meter to check the proper grounding. And not in the rainy day to test. Dry earth have higher resistance.

I don't have the equipment to check. Costly. What I can do and check is the resistance wire to the rod by multimeter. Makesure low enough ohm. And a min of 6mm wire size. Rod deep as possible and connection. I solder weld the wire to the rod. The only way to confirm my grounding DIY done a good job is by the 2pcs Belkin surge protector Led light. Now it always light up to tell me the earthing is good.   

That RCCB I mention above have a nuisance trip prevention which causes by lightning. It will not easily trip by lightning even it has a sensitivity of 100mA.

SPD doesn't function at all (or limited) without the shortest earth wire to the grounding rod. It has a limited radius length of protection. I forget the wire limited length. Something like 10m-20m. Any wire that longer than this range will require another SPD and nearer earth wire to another grounding rod to get protected.

SPD job is to get the lightning energy (surge voltage) as fast as possible to the grounding rod. If the surge is from the Live and neutral wire. (From TNB if you put in the class 1 SPD). MCB, RCCB or fuse in the DB box don't have the earth wire connection. So if the lightning surge coming from TNB, where will it go to unable it travel to the ground? It have to go through your equipment which have earthing protection. And from your equipment earthing body, travel to the earth wire and last to the ground rod. Which might already damage the equipment.

So don't complain if you put a bunch of SPD and cannot protect. Grounding is still important.

Conventional wisdom is to install an SPD (per DB rated kA or higher) before the DB to dissipate to mass of earth the lightning surge current. However I'm no expert so get a second opinion if you can.

The home DB's earth pit impedance must be as low as possible to maintain shortest path to earth mass. For landed properties only.

I would suspect your parents building earth pits are too high impedance thus the lightning surge randomly hit so many equipment

I would suggest you get a certified electrical contractor to check the structure electrical earthing pit (preferably 10 Ohm or better) system.

Edit* Anyway here's an easy way to check whether your home has good earthing.

Use your multimeter to measure the Voltage between Phase/Earth, if you get the same(or about 5V diff) voltage as between Phase/Neutral then you have good earthing. Fluctuates according to current weather/ground conditions.

Otherwise have your earthing checked by a certified electrician
If only you continually experience damaged equipment due to lightning strikes.
My house earthing is bad (I've checked) but no lightning damaged so I don't bother.

Thanks for sharing. My electrician is coming to inspect the earth grounding and install SPD tomorrow. Hope all goes well

Btw, the earth ground reading should be 10 Ohm or lower, right?

  Btw, the earth ground reading should be 10 Ohm or lower, right?

Earth impedance value

Transformer Neutral (star) pt and body - 1 Ohm or below

Residential electrical DB earthing pit - 10 Ohm or below

Residential Lightning protection system pit - between 5 to 50 Ohm or below
depending on soil conditions and consultant design.

Problem was some areas almost impossible to get the earth reading due to budget constraints. Needed to explain to the client and design engineer.

Earth ground would be low ohm resistance.  The connection to earth ground must be low ohm impedance.  Electrician would not have any equipment to measure impedance.  And most probablly do not know what impedance is.

But we make it simple.  A low impedance connection is short (ie less than 3 meters), has no sharp bends, is not inside metallic conduit, and has no splices.

Generally, many electrician cannot measure earth ground resistance.  So most simply install two electrodes.  One is more than sufficient to protect human life.  More (sufficiently spaced apart) are necessary to protect appliances.

Rather than measure ground resistance, a decision for earth ground may be determined by geology.  Sandy soil needs an enhanced ground.  Earth of fine particles that stays moist (therefore is more electrically conductive) means one or two electrodes are probably sufficient.

Yup. My parent apartment outside end lot wall have this copper tape running down the building. With a pvc pipe cover at the ground floor wall.

Still fried many equipment during storm.

Need some advice here..on SPD . 

I am lookin to install a SPD  surge device  at the DB box /single phase /63A    for  my landed house.

What kA  rating  shall  i chose ? 

i see in shopee  there is  20kA to 120kA  choice.
is chosing a 100kA  SPD better than  40kA

Thanks..

Std is 20ka to 40ka.

It's capacity current it can absorb.

It's better with additional earth rod.

thanks  ..
the price  for 60kA  and 100kA  is about  98rm to 108 rm .
Any issues if i go for higher current capacity . 

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