Here We "Grow" Again

Donan Engineering Co., Inc. is proud to announce the expansion of our forensic engineering and fire investigation services with the opening of our newest office in Mobile, Alabama. The Mobile office opened on April 1, 2008 and is now providing quality forensic services throughout southern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle, southern Mississippi, and Louisiana. As with all other Donan office locations, this office will provide a full array of forensic services to our clients including civil/structural engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, fire and explosion origin & cause investigations, and vehicle accident reconstruction.

“With the successful launch of our Birmingham, Alabama office in January of 2007, it is now time to turn our attention to servicing the southern portion of Alabama and the surrounding Gulf Coast Region,” says Lyle Donan, President. “Ever since opening in Birmingham, our clients have been asking when we would be providing a local presence in the southern portion of the state. Even with our historic travel costs, we feel we’ve been a competitively priced alternative for work throughout all of Alabama, but now with a Mobile office, we’ll be in a position to more effectively provide the consistent service and lower cost investigations we’re known for.”

Donan Engineering’s goal remains to offer our customers a single-source provider for all their forensic engineering and fire investigation needs. The firm continues to offer a wide variety of services falling under the main categories of engineering investigation, fire and explosion origin & cause, roofing investigation, vehicle accident reconstruction, and component testing laboratory services.

For more information on Donan Engineering locations, please visit www.donan.com/locations.

Spring is in the air, and so is the Threat of Lightning Damage

Lightning that strikes a nearby tree, TV tower, or yard will elevate the ground potential and may show up on the house ground or neutral, especially if the tree is near a metal water line, underground cable or metal gas line.  A nearby lightning strike can also “couple” magnetically with the house wiring and appear as an induced spike on the neutral of the house.  Small appliances or devices are the most susceptible to lightning damage.  Small appliances include clocks, cordless phones, and televisions.  Since these small electronic devices share the same neutral, and since the lightning energy enters the house on the ground or neutral, they can all be affected regardless of whether they are connected to separate circuit breakers.

A lightning surge will be several hundreds or thousands of volts that will look for a path to ground or something of lower electrical potential.  If the lightning surge on ground or neutral is several thousand volts in potential, then the 120-volt conductor is a lesser potential.  Therefore, the surge will attempt to arc to the 120-volt conductor.  Insulation on motor wiring, power supplies, or printed circuit boards is very weak compared to house wiring.

For additional information on Donan Engineering’s lightning capabilities www.donan.com/services/engineering-investigations/lightning.