Is there any phone reception issues in a steel sip home? Walking about Lowe's yesterday, big metal building and my cell phone was very spotty.

On another note, If one desired to cut the cable cord and go with a rabbit ear antenna, I would expect the ability to tune in Mars by just screwing into the all metal skins of a traditional steel home.

Discuss.

Posted By karen reaney on 26 Aug 2016 08:48 AM
Is there any phone reception issues in a steel sip home? Walking about Lowe's yesterday, big metal building and my cell phone was very spotty.

On another note, If one desired to cut the cable cord and go with a rabbit ear antenna, I would expect the ability to tune in Mars by just screwing into the all metal skins of a traditional steel home.

Discuss.

Jimmy,
Lowes only has windows on the front of their buildings, so the deeper you go in the building the less cell reception you will have. Steel SIP's reception is diminished about 1 bar compared to standing outside.
However , with newer technology my Verizon cell service now operates at optimum reception off the WiFi on the inside
cant t advise on the Mars reception, you may be right
Another advantage of the skins is they effectively create a "faraday cage" making the structure one of the safest places to be in a lightning storm.

I have compared the reception between being in front of a window and being behind a stick wall. The stick wall provides better reception. I did know where the cell tower position when doing this comparison.

Just pointing out the windows aren't always better.

I don't have any phone reception issues in my steel SIP home.

Posted By cmkavala on 26 Aug 2016 08:58 PM

Another advantage of the skins is they effectively create a "faraday cage" making the structure one of the safest places to be in a lightning storm.

Chris, how does that work?

Since a lightening bolt is around 40,000 - 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit. I understand the concept of steel being able to ground but the EPS foam sitting behind a SIP will begin to soften at 200F. So while the electrical current might follow the steel skins into the ground and disperse, there has to be damage to the SIP since the EPS foam behind it cannot sustain temperatures like that of a lightening strike. The current flowing through it is carrying a lot of heat behind it.

Have any real-world lab tests with lightening strikes been done with the steel skin SIPS with EPS cores?

Posted By Lbear on 01 Sep 2016 03:44 PM

Posted By cmkavala on 26 Aug 2016 08:58 PM

Another advantage of the skins is they effectively create a "faraday cage" making the structure one of the safest places to be in a lightning storm.

Chris, how does that work?

Since a lightening bolt is around 40,000 - 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit. I understand the concept of steel being able to ground but the EPS foam sitting behind a SIP will begin to soften at 200F. So while the electrical current might follow the steel skins into the ground and disperse, there has to be damage to the SIP since the EPS foam behind it cannot sustain temperatures like that of a lightening strike. The current flowing through it is carrying a lot of heat behind it.

Have any real-world lab tests with lightening strikes been done with the steel skin SIPS with EPS cores?

Peter,
as I understand it, the steel skins divert the electrical charge to ground as a storm approaches, and slowly dissipates the electrical charge,......... so no strike - no heat, ....unlike a wood structure that resists the charge until it builds up and strikes happen.
maybe an electrician or engineer can explain it better than I, but this is (paraphrased) how it was explained to me.

A typical lightning bolt is miles long - so you can't dissipate it or attract it by doing anything for the last 30 feet. On the other hand, giving it an exterior path does reduce damage to the interior. And taller things divert it from shorter things nearby.

The temperature of lightning traveling through air/plasma and metal are vastly different.

Posted By jonr on 01 Sep 2016 04:44 PM
A typical lightning bolt is miles long - so you can't dissipate it or attract it by doing anything for the last 30 feet. On the other hand, giving it an exterior path does reduce damage to the interior. And taller things divert it from shorter things nearby.

The temperature of lightning traveling through air/plasma and metal are vastly different.

Thats true , but if the faraday cage does not allow the static charge to build up around the cage instead ti slowly discharges te static electricity to ground so that it can't build up
this is the same reason you are saver in an automobile (no it not the rubber tires, its the steel cage around you)

From:science.how stuff works..........Lightning Myth #4 Rubber tires aren't why you're safe in a car during a lightning storm. In strong electric fields, rubber tires actually become more conductive than insulating. You're safe in a car because the lightning will travel around the surface of the vehicle and then go to ground. This occurs because the vehicle acts like a Faraday cage. Michael Faraday, a British physicist, discovered that a metal cage would shield objects within the cage when a high potential discharge hit the cage. The metal, being a good conductor, would direct the current around the objects and discharge it safely to the ground. This process of shielding is widely used today to protect the electrostatic sensitive integrated circuits in the electronics world.

There was a guy I knew who had his truck struck by lightening. It completely fried every sensor and all the electronics in his car. The actual electrical wires were melted and fried. The tires on the truck blew up and popped. Insurance company decided to total it out since there was so much damage to anything electrical, which is almost everything on a new vehicle.

From my understanding. A steel skinned and framed building with NO insulation would fare better than a steel structure with EPS rigid foam insulation attached to it. The heat produced by the lightening strike is hot enough to melt the EPS since it is a live current. When people die from lightening strikes, the main cause of death is due to the exceedingly high temperature of the lightning bolt. The steel will ground out the strike but the heat produced by it will damage/melt anything that is touching the steel skin.

My HVAC guy received 2nd degree burns on his hand and arm from an electrical shock he received from working on an AC unit.

So with lightening it's not only the voltage but the extreme heat that causes the damage.

Posted By Lbear on 01 Sep 2016 11:23 PM
There was a guy I knew who had his truck struck by lightening. It completely fried every sensor and all the electronics in his car. The actual electrical wires were melted and fried. The tires on the truck blew up and popped. Insurance company decided to total it out since there was so much damage to anything electrical, which is almost everything on a new vehicle.

From my understanding. A steel skinned and framed building with NO insulation would fare better than a steel structure with EPS rigid foam insulation attached to it. The heat produced by the lightening strike is hot enough to melt the EPS since it is a live current. When people die from lightening strikes, the main cause of death is due to the exceedingly high temperature of the lightning bolt. The steel will ground out the strike but the heat produced by it will damage/melt anything that is touching the steel skin.

My HVAC guy received 2nd degree burns on his hand and arm from an electrical shock he received from working on an AC unit.

So with lightening it's not only the voltage but the extreme heat that causes the damage.

Peter,
all I can say is I live in the lightning capital of the US , and never saw or heard it happen to a steel SIP house/ commercial building.
Either we're all real lucky or it simply doesn't happen.
But this I am sure of: happens all the time to wood frame!

Same chance of a strike, but one will be much safer in a steel sip building than the typical wood building without lighting protection. If you have any doubts about a metal shell protecting the occupants and usually preventing major damage:

The Federal Aviation Administration estimates that on average, lightning hits each airliner in U.S. service once a year.

"Ground current causes the most lightning deaths and injuries".

People with a lack of cell phone reception can get a repeater.