Storm damage and your home's wiring: a SE QLD safety guide
Brisbane storm season is brutal on home wiring. Here's what to check after a storm, and what to never, ever touch.
SE Queensland gets a proper storm season. Lightning hits, voltage spikes ride down the supply line, water finds its way into the meter box, trees come down on service cables. Every November to March I'm busy from late afternoon onwards.
Before the storm
The single best thing you can do before a Brisbane storm season is install a surge protection device (SPD) at your switchboard. It's about a $500 add-on that sacrifices itself instead of letting your TV, your fridge, your AC compressor and your solar inverter take the hit.
Other prep:
- Test your safety switches (press the "T" button on each RCD). They should snap off. If any don't, ring an electrician.
- Make sure you have a working torch not on the same circuit as the rest of the house.
- Know where your main switch is.
During the storm
Don't do anything except wait it out. Resist the urge to flip switches as things flicker.
If lightning strikes nearby and your house drops out, leave it dropped until the storm passes. Don't try to reset the switchboard while it's still raining hard, if a service cable has been damaged, you don't want to be poking at a live board.
After the storm
Walk the property in daylight. Look for:
- Tree branches on or near the service line from the pole to your house
- Water damage around the meter box (rust streaks, droplets inside the cabinet)
- Burnt smell at any outlet
- Outdoor lights, garden bollards or pool equipment that have stopped working
Inside the house, walk through and check every powerpoint that might have been used during the storm. If anything won't turn on, doesn't mean it's the appliance, it might mean the powerpoint or its circuit has been hit.
If anything is suspicious, switch the relevant circuit off and ring 0411 054 811.
Why surge protection matters
A nearby lightning strike doesn't need to be a direct hit to fry your gear. Induced surges travel down the supply line and arrive at your switchboard at thousands of volts. Without an SPD they march straight into your TV, fridge, AC and solar inverter, and most insurance policies have a hard limit per appliance.
A switchboard-mounted SPD clamps that surge to safe levels and dies in your TV's place. Replace the SPD ($300ish) instead of replacing the appliances ($5,000+). It pays for itself the first time it's needed.
Insurance and the report
If you've had storm damage, insurance will usually want a report from a licensed electrician before they pay out on damaged wiring. Voltech does these regularly:
- We come out, test what's damaged, document it
- We list the make-safe and the permanent repair separately
- We supply photos and the certificate
- We bill the insurance company directly if they prefer
If you're mid-claim and you need an electrician's report, that's us. Ring or email and we'll usually have it back to you in 48 hours.
, John
I'm John, local Camp Hill sparky, fully licensed, fixed-price quotes, lifetime workmanship warranty. Ring me direct on 0411 054 811 or send a quick message.
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