Lightening

Been a lot of electrical storms lately - any special warnings with people using pacers

6 Comments

no

by Angelie - 2009-08-13 04:08:20

just because you have a pacer or ICD does not make you any more susceptible to lightening than a person who does not have one.
Lightening does not discriminate, if you're close enough to hear thunder you can be struck by lightening. The lightening doesn't "see" the metal under your skin.....

One piece of advice...

by COBradyBunch - 2009-08-13 07:08:38

Don't get hit by lightning. It isn't good for your pacer (or many other systems that are required to keep a biological entity alive for that matter).

Here is what I do....

by pacergirl - 2009-08-13 11:08:34

For what it is worth...

I live in the Mid West. We get a lot of severe thunder and lightening storms. Here is what I do... run for cover! I hate thunder! It scares me half to death!!! My little dog and I run for the covers and hide until the warnings are gone and the noise and lights return to normal!

Of course I drive a beetle convertible and I only recently realized that my little rag top provides no safety from lightening storms... now what do I do? I have no idea, any suggestions?

Pacergirl

Rag top

by ElectricFrank - 2009-08-14 01:08:33

I realized the same thing on my recent trip to the midwest with my trailer. It has a rubber roof with an air conditioner in the middle of it..also a TV antenna. I was camped in a state park in eastern Colorado when a boomer came through. My first instinct was to run for the truck and get inside an all metal place. Then my electronics side said NO. It would be my luck to have my hand on the door handle when another bolt went off. That can induce enough charge in a car body to give a real good jolt.

My wife was knocked down by one of those when we lived in Arizona. She went out to roll up the car windows and was jolted by the induced charge of a bolt that was at least 5 miles away.

Mean stuff..can ruin your whole day.

frank

storms

by Tracey_E - 2009-08-14 11:08:48

As the others said, you don't want to get hit, with or without a pacer!

I'm in Florida, more lightening deaths every year than anywhere else in the country. We get at least several hits every summer close enough and strong enough that it shakes the house and leaves my hair standing up and my heart thumping. And that's inside the house! Never any lasting harm but it feels funny for a few minutes after.

Frank and Pacergirl, I thought the rubber tires grounded a vehicle and made it safe?

Auto's and Lightning

by COBradyBunch - 2009-08-14 12:08:24

First of all you are not grounded by the tires but rather insulated, which means that the lightning is less likely to want to take that route to the ground than something else nearby. If lightning does hit a car wet tires are probably the most likely route to the ground but still not something lightning will favor over other options. Also, a auto, particularly with a metal roof is sort of like a cage (see Faraday Cage for more info), and that cage takes the lightning around you rather than through you as long as you are not touching the metal that is forming the cage you are not likely to be a path for the current.

All that said a convertible is probably less safe than a hard top since you don't have the whole cage. You still should be relatively safe since lightning will want to go through the metal if possible but a hard top would definitely be looking a lot more like a Faraday Cage).

Lightning is an interesting beast and can even come in through the windows of a car if it wants to so while safer in a car than walking around you still can get seriously injured by a bolt that has your name on it.

You know you're wired when...

Intel inside is your motto.

Member Quotes

As for my pacemaker (almost 7 years old) I like to think of it in the terms of the old Timex commercial - takes a licking and keeps on ticking.