Here is what happened. On October 24, 2010, there was a terrific storm that had come in from the Pacific. At 7:10pm, a 100mph wind swept thru our neighborhood. There was lightning also, and it struck the transformer behind our house. At that time, our lights in the house dimmed and the tv went out. There were sparks all over our backyard, and a line went down. I called 911 and told them I was scared that something was terribly wrong. No one came. A few minutes later the entire house began to hummmmm from within the walls. I a made another 911 call, and dispatch assured me the fire dept. would arrive asap, but we werent the only ones with a problem. About 1/2 hr later, our walls began smoking. My husband started checking everywhere and found that the plumbing which is exposed in the basement was glowing red hot, so he turned on the tap to release pressure, and the water came out boiling. About this time, the fire dept. arrived. They were shown the plumbing and had us all evacuate the house as they thought the plumbing might EXPLODE!!! They called the electric company as the breaker in the house was off, but the house was receiving power surges. At that time, our entire house became electrified and you couldnt touch anything metal or you would get electricuted. Please contact the Idaho Falls Fire Dept. and request the details if you are a skeptic.. Do you think this will affect our plumbing in the long run as our contractor doesnt seem very concerned. Thank you.

if the plumbing is not affected now, it will never be.

Maybe the piping was galvanized and it became the path for the electricity to follow.

The details really helped. I'm not an electrician, but consulting one may be in your best interests to examine how your house is grounded. If a downed power line in your yard has enough voltage and amperage, I guess that the current could find its way to your water service or other metal conduit that enters your home. Typically when thawing frozen water lines in homes, we use what you could compare to a car battery charger. If this device is left on the copper water line too long it could melt washers in valves and even melt soldered connections in the piping.
If your house is grounded properly, the current should not remain in the house long enough to cause the pipes to heat as they did. But, like I said, I'm not an electrician.
Recently I was shocked while augering through a cast iron toilet flange in a basement. The conditions and circumstances were just right to create the situation and an electrician found some handy-man electrical work in the home. So, I guess that anything is possible if the planets align the right or wrong way.
Future effects on your plumbing system could be anybody's guess, but I would have the electrical and grounding checked first then operate all of your faucets, valves and appliances to see if the heat has damaged any internal parts.

I received a severe jolt from a copper water line not too long ago. It was in a crawl space and the pipe was leaking so the ground was wet, I crawled uo to it and put my cutters around it, when I started to tigten them the voltage ran thru my body to the ground. I had to turn the main breaker off before I could complete the repair.

We would love to see the pictures of those pipes in the basement.

I gather that your water is still turned on and you have not discovered any leaks....which surprises all of us. With the pipes hot enough to boil the water, we would have expected the steam pressure to blow out solder joints. For the copper to change color, the temperature of the metal had to be well above the melting point of the solder ( ~ 450ºF).

So from here, we fear the worst. Better have a close inspection done. And did they find out how the power got into your house? Did a power line fall on your ground rod?

Well, forgive us if we are still sceptical, because your husband should have been electrocuted when he opened the faucet, since the system would still have been electified at that time. But my original statement still stands, "If the piping was red hot, then ALL the solder joints should have melted", and since there was pressure in the piping the joints should have blown apart, or at least one to relieve the pressure. From here, we cannot possibly comment on the integrity of the piping without actually seeing it.

If the house were not grounded/bonded, then the electricity would have had NO path to complete the circuit, unless it created a giant "spark" by jumping from the house to the earth.

I have had similar events, but I make sure I know WHERE the electrical problem is before I even bother trying to finish the job.

Sorry your contractor is not concerned.Ask him how much he would charge you to back up his thoughts in writing.I would have both the plumber and electrician come out and do the normal lighting strike type checks of both the tubing and wiring.Honestly it is not a question of whether the plumbing has been damaged, as it is how much it has been damaged.You could test your metal tubing to ground by using a milli-volt testor to confirm you have no stray current.

Greetings -ExcuseMe-
This is merely a plumbing forum and not a court room requiring rebuttal. The facts allow us to help or assist in your problem solving. Your original post only explained the end results, and not what occured to make all happen.

Massive amounts of energy, resulting from an electrical storm, can and does produce the unique results that you have explained. Based on your description, I am truly surprised that no one was injured or hurt, considering the massive energy strike you experienced.

Based on your update. I would if your insurance company hasn't already suggested that you enlist the services of both plumbing and electrical, licensed, to inspect your house top to bottom for defectives and damages... and then document them. Pictures and videos for support will help should further damage or defects be revealed.

Storm damage can not be successfully done over the internet but I for one am glad that you shared the event and some of the end results with this forum.
Best Wishes

Could you take a moment and let us know if the water piping is copper or galvanized? I have a hard time seeing how copper could survive such an event.

I can see what could have happened.In the process of the transformer being damage from lightning.Either externally or internally the neutral became hot (electricly).Because there is no circuit breaker on the neutral and the neutral is grounded and tied to the water pipes.a tremendous amount of electricty flowed through the neutral,through the water pipes to ground.The pipes glowed red hot on the outside because the current running through the pipes produced more heat than the water on the inside of the pipe could cool off fast enough.

I am in total agreemen with HJ on the red hot part but more importantly with Wheelchair. That kind of event would have me INSISTING on nothing but the best in the area, go through my home top to bottom! Get referances, ask around and get a really good inspection done.

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Give your kids a great start on the future! Encourage them learn a trade. Even if they go on to do other things, it's always nice to know that they have something to fall back on. Call your local technical training center or trade school to learn more.

Lightning is an "instantaneous" event, and once it passed the water WOULD have cooled the pipes, but they are saying it was a "continuous" situation since they were still "red hot" when he went into the basement later. WE cannot dispute their description of what happened, but can remain incredulous about it.

HJ.I like the fact you think. Over lighting, a million drops of water could still be one.