Lightning Protection

Trees provide us with so many benefits. They contribute to real estate values, offer energy-conserving shade, serve as historical monuments, and provide countless memories. Large, mature trees supply the majority of these benefits and can be very difficult and expensive to replace. Too often severe weather events damage these precious assets. While you can't control the weather, you can take steps to protect these valuable natural resources. One method is through the installation of a lightning-protection system.

Whether you are protecting the trees that line the streets of your municipality, provide shade at your place of business, or support the tree house in your backyard, Hendel's experts can install lightning protection.

Better knowledge of how lightning interacts with trees has led to technology advances in protection. Hendel arborists have found better ways to attach hardware to trees while causing the least amount of damage and providing the greatest amount of protection. The result is the Hendel's Premium Lightning Protection System, which is innovative in several ways. Our lightning protection methods include:

Ground Resistance Testing
Heavier Copper Cable
Tree-Safe Hardware
Fuse Monitoring

Ground Resistance Testing

A Ground Resistance Meter is used to test the soil near the tree to determine the number of ground rods needed to provide adequate protection. Soil conductivity varies highly based on the depth of the soil to bedrock, and texture and moisture content. If soil conditions were not considered, there is the potential to direct a lightning charge into the soil in a manner that could lead to severe damage to the root system.

Heavier Copper Cable

Our premium system uses 32 strand cable as opposed to the standard 14 strand copper wire. This provides an extra measure of durability.

Fuse Monitoring

Our system also employs a fuse that is attached to the conductor cable. The fuse doesn't improve the performance of the system, but it does provide a critical measurement function, allowing managers to know when a lightning strike has taken place so that the system can be fully inspected for damage.