Whole house surge protection- any thoughts?

[Matt Meiser]

Yes, where ours is mounted you can see those LEDs when you go in the utility side of the basement so I've gotten in the habit of glancing at them and the radon detector mounted nearby.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Thanks for the enlightenment! (Pun intended). I picked up a whole house surge protector at Lowe's (awesome place, by the way) and headed home on the early flight this AM. I will hook it up before I flip the power back on. Yes- power was restored while I was away- for those following my situation. 113 days of no power.

By the way, surges are so common where I live that when you buy a television they won't let you leave the store until they open the box, plug it in, and you sign off that it was working when you left the store. I guess a lot of folks were returning TV's that got fried. Every major electronic in my house will now be protected by a whole-house and a plug-in surge protector. Computers, TV, and camera system will have UPS's because dips are also an issue. My fridge has a thing that keeps it shut off for 5 min after any power interruption in case of on/off/on/off blips after a power interruption. It keeps the compressor from undergoing multiple cycles.

[Jerome Stanek]

My sister in law had one of those 10 ft satellite dishes that was hit by lightning and even though the post was 5 feet in the ground the charge came trough the wire and blew the knobs off the receiver across the room and they stuck in the wall.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

My sister in law had one of those 10 ft satellite dishes that was hit by lightning and even though the post was 5 feet in the ground the charge came trough the wire and blew the knobs off the receiver across the room and they stuck in the wall.

That's kinda cool... And scary.

[Al Launier]

After some minimal research, including a couple of electricians, I concluded a whole house surge protector was better than lightning rods as the rods tend to attract lightning strikes. And even though they may ground a charge, I'd prefer not to attract the strikes in the first place.
Had a lightning strike about 15 years ago though the wires from the electrical wires buried about 3" in the ground for the dog fence. The charge found its way into the house & caused about $10,000 damage. Decided to get the whole house surge protector then. Better late than never.

[Wes Thom]

Mostly because they really don't work. They were intended to bleed the ground charge into the atmosphere thereby making the house a less likely target. However, unless you keep the tips sharp and clean they tend not to discharge the static charge.

Many know only what others have told them to believe. Lightning rods do not discharge air. That was roundly exposed even in famous lawsuits where Heary Bros tried to strongarm the NFPA (authors of the National Electrical Code) because honest technical people would not promote those ineffective ESE devices - that will magically discharge air.

Another popular myth is sharp rods. Nothing supports that myth. Meanwhile an IEEE paper describes a highly regarded experiment (if I remember in NM) where blunt rods were proven to be overwhelmingly superior to pointed rods.

However that is minor. Because a lightning rod's effectiveness is determined by THE most critical item in that protection 'system'. A lightning rod is only as effective as its connection to and quality of earth ground.

Same applies to many who foolishly believe a protector is effective when it absorbs a surge. Only ineffective protectors (with massive profit margins and plenty of subjective advertising) do that. Anyone can read its specification numbers. Apparently most did not. Subjective claims are necessary to protect scams.

How many joules does that expensive plug-in protector from APC, Belkin, Tripplite, Panamax, or Monster claim to absorb? Hundreds? Thousand? A surge that tiny is routinely made irrelevant by robust protection already inside appliances. Effective protection is about where hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate. Always read spec numbers.

The informed do what was done routinely over 100 years ago. Properly earth a 'whole house' protector to protect from all kinds of surges (including the feared, tiny, and mythical motor generated transient - best called noise).

Only a properly earthed 'whole house' protector protects from all types of surges. A plug-in protector only claims to protect from a type of surge that typically is too small to damage electronics.

Your computer will consume a hundreds joule surge as electricity to power it semiconductors. It will simply convert such tiny surges into rock stable, low DC voltages. But that same surge may even destroy a near zero joule, plug-in protector. Where is protection? They hope consumers will make observations using junk science reasoning - ie observation. "My protector sacrificed itself to save my computer."

No it did not. Superior protection routinely found in electronics protected itself. Near zero joule protector (with an obscene profit margin) was destroyed by a surge too tiny to damage anything else.

Direct lightning strikes can be 20,000 amps. So a minimal 'whole house' protector must be 50,000 amps. That defines protector life expectancy over many decades and many surges. Protection during each surge is defined by what harmlessly absorbs hundreds of thousands of joules. A protector or a lightning rod is only as effective as its earth ground. Earth ground is THE most critical item in protection of household appliances and of structures. Necessary to even protect plug-in protectors.

How many feet from the breaker box 'whole house' protector to earth? If that hardwire goes up over the foundation and down to earth, then it complies with code and compromises protection. That hardwire is too long, has too many sharp bends (over foundation), and is not separated from other non-grounding wires. Best protection means that hardwire goes through the foundation and down to what does protection - single point earth ground. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground - just like a lightning rod.

[Terry Wawro]

Since the house is full of electronics and gizmos, I've used them for years. Don't know if if they will protect you from a direct strike but I do know that they help. A few years ago we had a ground strike REAL close by. My very close next door neighbor lost several appliances and the garage door opener. I didn't lose a thing.

BTW, for those who have them, double check your led's color. Just because it's on does not mean it's still working. Some glow green when good, then glow red if it's died in service and can no longer protect the circuits.

[Wes Thom]

A few years ago we had a ground strike REAL close by. My very close next door neighbor lost several appliances and the garage door opener. I didn't lose a thing.

So a dishwasher is on a plug-in protector? How did you protect each GFCI? Smoke detectors must be hardwired - not plugged in. What protected them? What protected the furnace? Many of these items are less robust; more easily destroyed by a surge. Those were not damaged? Then a surge never existed.

Plug-in protectors do less than what is already inside appliances. And in some cases have even made surge damage easier. Another problem with those expensive and near zero joule devices: fire.

All household appliances protected themselves from a surge that did not exist. Otherwise even damaged dimmer switches are listed.

[Olympia Pernille]

Better ask help from an electrical professional what is the best idea about layering the whole-house surge protection, especially if there’s an elaborate home entertainment system or another expensive electronic set-up.

[Thomas McCurnin]

Mine was a $1,000 commercial grade Cutler Hammer box that feeds from the top of the panel back in.

I think it is worthless. But then again, like Ole, I wouldn't know a power surge if I had one.

I did have a spike which took out four breakers, perhaps the breakers were bad off the start, but I would have thought the presence of such an expensive box would have protected the breakers.

[Bill Dufour]

I thought the theory of lightening rods was they leaked off low levels of current before the voltage grew too high preventing strikes. If they took a strike they were not working correctly. I read decades ago they used nuclear tips that theoretically generated an particle stream to promote current flow at low voltages.
I like the use of a line conditioner on some shop equipment to prevent back emf on shutdown with big rotating mass. They do not wear out. I do not that they have any applicable efficiency loss.
Bill D

[Bill Dufour]

My dad's friend had a 12kv line fall onto his home supply drop. It blew half his fuses and fried his stove and tv and some other stuff I do not remember. He knew it happened when he saw smoke coming out of the stove. He had a fuse box in the attic. The fuses blew open the door.
Bill D

[Wade Lippman]

I've had the Eaton for maybe 15 years and no problems. But maybe I wouldn't of anyways; who knows.

40 year ago ago lighting hit a building across the street from my office and knocked down a chimney. It was enough to destroy one of my monitors, back when they were $500 each in 1980 dollars. But I suppose I got off better than the guy across the street.

[Charlie Velasquez]

With power being restored to the island bit by bit, a lot of folks have lost expensive appliances to the surges. We bought surge protectors for the expensive stuff, and my wife asked if there was a surge protector for the whole house you could get. I googled it, and it appears there is.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-...FYcBPwodQeMFIQ

At this price, why wouldn't every house have them as a standard thing? Anyone want to give me any pointers on selecting a good model?

Edit: By the way, I told my wife, "Let me ask the folks on SMC." She said, "Isn't that a woodworking forum?" I replied, "They know a little of everything."

Wrt the question I boldfaced - It will be. That is included in the 2020 NEC. As soon as your locale adopts that code cycle, any new house construction or anyone upgrading their current service panel will have to include integrated whole house surge protection.

[Tom Bender]

I installed a small UPS for the computer and router to carry them over till the generator starts up. I think it will provide some surge protection on the power lines but may not help if lightning lights up the ground side.

The VFD on the TS got hit so I rewired the power with a DPDT switch to cut both legs, but still vulnerable thru the ground line.