Electrical storm damage and power surges: reset and inspection in Seville, Spain

What a storm or a power surge does to your installation

Lightning does not have to strike your house to cause damage. It is enough for it to hit nearby, on a line or a pole, for a surge wave to come in through the power network or the telecoms line and run through every home in the area. In other cases the cause is in the network itself: a switching operation or a broken neutral that makes the voltage rise for minutes.

The usual consequences are:

• The RCD has tripped and will not reset, because it has been damaged or because an appliance has been left with a leakage.
• The whole home without power with the fuse board apparently fine.
• Appliances that will not switch on: the router, TV, induction hob (cooktop), washing machine, air conditioning.
• A burning smell from the fuse board or a socket.
• Motors for blinds, awnings or garage doors that stop working.

Storm damage is not the same as an RCD fault

After a storm three different things can leave you in the dark, and it helps to know which one you have. If the lever with the TEST button has dropped and stays down, there is a leakage, possibly in a damaged appliance: see RCD keeps tripping. If a single circuit breaker trips, see MCB keeps tripping. If everything is up and you still have no power, the fault may be in your riser cable or the network, explained in power cut at home.

What you can do yourself

1. Unplug electronic equipment before restoring power, so it does not get a second spike.
2. Reset the RCD and the main switch only once. If they trip again, leave them down.
3. Do not test appliances that smell of burning or that made a strange noise.
4. Take photos of the fuse board, the damaged appliances and the labels with the model: you will need them for the insurer.
5. Write down the date and time of the storm or the power cut.

How we inspect the installation after a storm

1. We check the incoming voltage to rule out the problem still being in the network.
2. We test RCDs and circuit breakers with a tester and replace any that have been damaged.
3. We measure the insulation of the circuits in case the surge has punctured a cable or a switch.
4. We check the earthing (grounding), because that is the path a surge protector uses to divert the spike.
5. We test the affected appliances to separate what works from what needs repairing or replacing.
6. We give you a report with what we found, the parts replaced and the damaged equipment.

How to stop it happening again

Surge protection is covered by ITC-BT-23 of the Spanish wiring regulations (REBT). In practice, the measures are:

• A transient surge protector in the fuse board, which diverts to earth the short spikes caused by lightning or network switching.
• A permanent overvoltage protector, which cuts the supply when the voltage stays abnormally high.
• An automatic recloser for the RCD, very useful in second homes or houses with a freezer: if the storm trips it and no leakage remains, it pushes it back up. Ideal if you spend part of the year away from Spain. See auto-reclosing RCD.
• A lightning rod on isolated villas and country houses, when the risk assessment recommends it.

You will find all these options on surge protection and electrical safety. If the fuse board itself has been affected, also see fuse board fault.

Storms in Seville: where they hit hardest

The late summer and autumn storms mainly affect the detached houses of the Aljarafe, such as those in Mairena del Aljarafe, Tomares or Bormujos, and the villas on the outskirts of Dos Hermanas or Carmona. These homes have more metres of exposed cable: garden lights, the pool pump, the gate motor, awnings and, increasingly, solar panels and an EV charger. A typical case: after a night storm the RCD will not go up, the router will not switch on and neither will the gate motor. On inspection, the RCD has been damaged and the motor board has taken the surge. We replace what is damaged, add a combined protector and leave the house ready for the next storm.

Your insurance claim

Many home insurance policies cover electrical damage, with conditions that depend on each contract. If the surge came from the network and not from lightning, the distributor may have to answer for the quality of supply under Royal Decree 1955/2000. Either way, a technical report helps. If you need a full assessment of the claim, we do it on insurance claims assessment.

Guide prices

These are guide prices. If the storm has left you without power, we help through our 24-hour emergency electrician service, part of our emergency electrician family.