Whole house surge protectors

[Wes Thom]

I'm confused... maybe I'm reading it wrong, but in the first half of your text you seem to be saying surge protectors will have no problem protecting direct strikes. The second half however, appears to be saying they won't... ?

Words protector and protection describe different items. Similar words describe different concepts and items. No protector does protection. But a properly earthed 'whole house' protector, when part of a larger system, does protection. Why? Because two different items must exist: a protector and protection.

A man is not a women. But men and women are men - not monkeys.

Protection is always about where hundreds of thousands of joules dissipate. Protection is about knowing where energy dissipates. An effective protection system dissipates hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly outside the building. That means a surge current must not be anywhere inside the building. That means a protector is only one component of a larger system. A system that includes another and the most important component - the protection.

How to identify a potentially effective and ineffective protector? Effective protectors only do what a hardwire would do better. So effective protectors have a short and dedicated wire for a low impedance connection to earth. Ineffective protectors do not. Low impedance (obviously different from low resistance) and the quality of earth ground defines how effective that protector (as part of a system) is. IOW a protector is only as effective as its earth ground.

[Frederick Skelly]

Im sorry to be a dope guys, but I cant follow this. But Ive been thinking of buying one too and having advice from you is too good a chance to miss.

Is it true that a "good" ( $500 ?) whole house surge protector will protect my appliances from anything but a direct strike? But to protect from a direct strike, I need a lightning rod and better grounding? Or have I misunderstood?

Thank you.
Fred

[Scott T Smith]

Im sorry to be a dope guys, but I cant follow this. But Ive been thinking of buying one too and having advice from you is too good a chance to miss.

Is it true that a "good" ( $500 ?) whole house surge protector will protect my appliances from anything but a direct strike? But to protect from a direct strike, I need a lightning rod and better grounding? Or have I misunderstood?

Thank you.
Fred

Fred, I will readily admit that I'm not in Dan or Wes's league when it comes to understanding the specifics of the technology (and I'm glad that they both are contributing here), but here is how I view this.

Surge protectors are like filters - they capture transient voltage spikes and redirect them to ground instead of allowing them to ground through your equipment. In order for them to work properly, you need an excellent path to ground so that the voltage can be redirected efficiently.

My personal experience has been that a high quality surge arrestor, coupled with an excellent ground system, has eliminated costly electrical failures that were occurring on my equipment. After two failures in three years, I installed the device and have not had a problem in seven subsequent years. I also installed a multiple rod ground grid with brazed connections in order to obtain the best possible path to ground for the surge arrestor as well as my load center. This same ground path minimized sharp angles in the wiring run and the ground wire was kept continuously sloping to ground from the load center / arrestor to the ground grid, as per the Motorola R56 grounding standards.

It's been my experience that if you have overhead power service you may be slightly more likely to have problems versus underground service.

Will they stop everything? Probably not but if properly installed can and do provide additional protection for your electronics.

Can they wear out? Yes, but it's not likely in our lifetime unless you receive a lot of voltage transients.

Just my 2 cents. If Dan or Wes advises differently - listen to them.

[Steve Milito]

Im sorry to be a dope guys, but I cant follow this. But Ive been thinking of buying one too and having advice from you is too good a chance to miss.

Is it true that a "good" ( $500 ?) whole house surge protector will protect my appliances from anything but a direct strike? But to protect from a direct strike, I need a lightning rod and better grounding? Or have I misunderstood?

Thank you.
Fred

Basically. More accurately you would need a system that includes one or more lightning rods, a ground system designed to handle a strike, a whole house surge protector, and point of use protectors for the more sensitive electronics.

[Wes Thom]

Is it true that a "good" ( $500 ?) whole house surge protector will protect my appliances from anything but a direct strike?

First, why spend $500? These things had been selling in Lowes and Home Depot for less than $40. Prices have increased since then. Maximum price is typically $200.

Second, install protection to make direct strikes irrelevant. That means lesser and other surges also should not cause damage.

Third, forget things previously read. Forget what anyone has said. Read these four paragraphs. Do you understand them? What in them confuses you? Ask questions only about those four paragraphs until you understand them. Otherwise this stuff will not make sense.

Lightning seeks earth ground. A path for a 20,000 amp electric surge is ...
Franklin installed a lightning rod. Now 20,000 amps is ...
Lightning seeks earth ground. A lightning strike to utility wires ...
For over 100 years, facilities that cannot have damage ...

[Steve Milito]

First, why spend $500? These things had been selling in Lowes and Home Depot for less than $40. Prices have increased since then. Maximum price is typically $200.

Second, install protection to make direct strikes irrelevant. That means lesser and other surges also should not cause damage.

Third, forget things previously read. Forget what anyone has said. Read these four paragraphs. Do you understand them? What in them confuses you? Ask questions only about those four paragraphs until you understand them. Otherwise this stuff will not make sense.

or you could try this link

[Wes Thom]

or you could try this link

Did you read your 'link'? The IEEE in that guide (and elsewhere) says why proper earthing and a 'whole house' protector is necessary. Page 33 figure 8. A protector can cause damage to any nearby appliance IF that current is not earthed. What happens when current is permitted inside? Page 33 figure 8. More than 8000 volts is inside the house. Earthing a surge BEFORE it enters means no 8000 volts - not even 1000 volts - is inside.

Please read your 'link'. It says what so many other professionals also say. Protection is about where energy harmlessly dissipates. Damage is when that energy is all but invited inside. Protection that makes destructive surges irrelevant ALWAYS has and requires earth ground. So that energy dissipates harmlessly outside - and not 8000 volts destructively through an adjacent appliance.

Some quotes from your 'link'. Page 22:

2.3.1 Grounding
An effective, low-impedance ground path is critical for the successful operation of an SPD. High surge currents impinging on a power distribution system having a relatively high grounding resistance can create enormous ground potential rises(see Section 4 beginning on page 30), resulting in damage. Therefore, an evaluation of the service entrance grounding system at the time of the SPD installation is very important.

Page 22:

2.3.2 Lead Length
To achieve optimum overvoltage protection, the connecting leads between the SPDs and the panel or protected equipment should be as short as possible and without sharp 90-degree bends. ... For fast-rising lightning pulses, the inductance of these leads produces large voltage drops.

One of the main functions of the service entrance SPD is to reduce the surge current reaching any downstream protectors

Even a plug-in protector needs to be protected.

Plug-in protectors may supplement a properly earthed 'whole house' protector. But if a 'whole house' protector does not earth that current, then a plug-in protector does little. Sometimes makes damage easier. As even demonstrates by your 'link' - page 33 figure 8. 8000 volts destructively earthed via any nearby appliance because it was not earthed at the service entrance.

Protection is always about earthing that current BEFORE it enters. Then everything is protected.

[Keith Outten]

Gentlemen,

Although I have zero experience in this field I can recognize unfriendly comments when I see/remove them.
Remember that one of the most important rules here is "Thou Shalt Be Friendly".
.

[Steve Milito]

Did you read your 'link'?

.

Yes. I read the article before I posted it.

[Frederick Skelly]

@Steve Milito. Thanks for posting the link to help me out Steve. I appreciate it.
Fred

[Steve Milito]

@Steve Milito. Thanks for posting the link to help me out Steve. I appreciate it.
Fred

Your welcome.