Surge Protection

I've procrastinated long enough and have contacted my local electrical company to install surge protection at the meter housing.

After reading what I could find on the web, it is suggested to also have surge unit on the electrical panels. Have any of you gone through this? If so what did you install for protection?

Brad225 said:

I've procrastinated long enough and have contacted my local electrical company to install surge protection at the meter housing.

After reading what I could find on the web, it is suggested to also have surge unit on the electrical panels. Have any of you gone through this? If so what did you install for protection?

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Why?

Have you ever had a surge?

If you have ever had a surge (or do in the future) you'd probably find that (between the supply authority and insurance) you'd be covered.

So is it worth worrying about? I'd be more worried about the potential threat to sound quality through transient current limiting.

amey01 said:

Why?

Have you ever had a surge?

If you have ever had a surge (or do in the future) you'd probably find that (between the supply authority and insurance) you'd be covered.

So is it worth worrying about? I'd be more worried about the potential threat to sound quality through transient current limiting.

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No major surges that I know of, fortunately.

The electric company takes very little responsibility for rembursment and homeowners insurance has a $5000 deductible. That's aside from problem knowing what is actually damaged now and what quits working in the future. Let alone having to deal with all of problems they both put you through.

I am going to a friend's home today that lives in another city. A few months ago he had a power surge (different power company no surge protection,) that set his electrical service and meter housing on fire. The Power company would only give him a pro-rated amount based on age for all appliances in his home. He received very little money and his home owners insurance deductible would not be reached. The rest was out of pocket.

Aside from that, Florida is the lightning capital of the world. Will it protect from a direct lightning strike no but I probably won't have much of a house left anyway.

Hi Brad,

May be selling my Furman elite 20pfi PLC for pretty cheap if you are interested.

Doing some upgrading in that area.

Gordon

Thanks Gordon. The electric company is installing the meter protection tomorrow. I am thinking about Shunyata's Denali that should be out in a couple of months. The front end of my system is covered so I am looking for protection for my amps.

Still looking at protection in each electrical panel though.

Brad, I presume you're getting the TECO ZapCap (or whatever your local power company calls it). I've had it for years. It's primarily a "cash-cow" for them (monthly charge), but IMHO still worth it for peace of mind. In addition, I use a 20A Running Springs Audio Duke power conditioner for my C-J Pre and Amp, and an old Belkin PF60 for the rest of my audio gear. As far as I can tell (listening with/without the conditioners) neither has a deleterious effect on fidelity.

However, I'm curious why you think you need additional protection at the electrical panel?

I had a surge once but was lucky I dident lose anything I too am in the land of surges St. Pete, Florida.
Dont go too far with the exotic audio devices, look at some of the complete home units available and get a electrician to install it its a one shot deal and theres chances its better than some audio stuff.

Hello Brad, I'll be interested in how you go about this as well, have you considered true spiked grounds from the box? My buddy up in Phx AZ has quite the set up to protect his $100k+ in gear. A direct lightening hit will toast everything unless you have a solid rod to divert it down through the ground. Surges are another story. I like how your thinking though!

Here in AZ we get pretty wicked monsoon storms in the summer. I unplug everything on bad days, which sucks because my SS gear likes to warm up to sound it's best.

My home was built in 1948 and was upgraded to 20amp grounded outlets just before I moved in, I don't have funds for major upgrades like my buds, please keep us up what you do.

I searched a number of sites for information on whole house protection and this site had the best explanation of what to do and why was SteveJenkins.com

If you do a search on the home page for "best whole house surge protection" the page will come up.

Basically, he recommends Type 1 that is installed the meter between the housing and the meter itself. That unit you can purchase or have the power company supply. This will cover very large surges but after the initial surge power returning has the possibility of voltage that will be to high for household equipment.


Type 2 that is in the electrical panel. His recommendation is an Eaton CHSPT2ULTRA that connects to a double pole 50 amp breaker. They can be purchased from Amazon for $110. This will protect from 600V once the meter protection allowed power back through the system. This Eaton unit is warranted for life and if you get such a strike and the unit has sacrificed itself they will replace it for free.

Type 3 is still needed at the point of each appliance or piece of equipment. These will cover voltages that vary by unit but he said coverage to 150-170 volts is what is needed. Many of the surge strips go to 130volt which can frequently be achieved in a typical 120volt line and once that happens the MOV in them is rendered useless and no protection is available.
I will continue to use SurgeX units. They are sold by the manufacturer and I have used them for 10 years in our office. They are available in many configurations and amperages.

I spoke with an electrical engineer in our local audio club and he ask me to describe what I was thinking of. When I described this he said that was the same combination he used on his home, though not the same brand name products.

So I will be adding a Surgex to all of our household appliances that plug in and put the Eaton units in both electrical panels.

I suggest reading Steve's posting as it will explain it much better than I did.

Brad225 said:

I searched a number of sites for information on whole house protection and this site had the best explanation of what to do and why was SteveJenkins.com

If you do a search on the home page for "best whole house surge protection" the page will come up.

Basically, he recommends Type 1 that is installed the meter between the housing and the meter itself. That unit you can purchase or have the power company supply. This will cover very large surges but after the initial surge power returning has the possibility of voltage that will be to high for household equipment.


Type 2 that is in the electrical panel. His recommendation is a model by Eaton that connects to a double pole 30 amp breaker. They can be purchased from Amazon for $110. This will protect from 600V once the meter protection allowed power back through the system. This Eaton unit is warranted for life and if you get such a strike and the unit has sacrificed itself they will replace it for free.

Type 3 is still needed at the point of each appliance or piece of equipment. These will cover voltages that vary by unit but he said coverage to 150-170 volts is what is needed. Many of the surge strips go to 130volt which can frequently be achieved in a typical 120volt line and once that happens the MOV in them is rendered useless and no protection is available.
I will continue to use SurgeX units. They are sold by the manufacturer and I have used them for 10 years in our office. They are available in many configurations and amperages.

I spoke with an electrical engineer in our local audio club and he ask me to describe what I was thinking of. When I described this he said that was the same combination he used on his home, though not the same brand name products.

So I will be adding a Surgex to all of our household appliances that plug in and put the Eaton units in both electrical panels.

I suggest reading Steve's posting as it will explain it much better than I did.

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How many Joules does the Eaton support I am looking for the largest I can get at the box I think its 80K even if its too much it wont stress out as soon. I am told these units have a limited life time if they are hit alot. I have Trippe units at the sites. Gee I never had this problem in NY

I looked at the data for the Eaton CHSPT2ULTRA and didn't find that Beek. If you search it or contact them you will probably find that information.

I had a REAL bonafide lightning strike! I'm talking blown light bulbs, one garage door opener and BOTH of my HVAC systems, my cable modem and router and a TV box. My door bell even made a sickening sound.
It didn't hit my house but it was VERY close by.

I have surge suppressors on all of my electronics. My computer was on with all 3 monitors etc.. and my large APC UPS saved it! That's the good news.

My router has a hard wired Cat 5 connection to the cable modem and both the cable modem and my router were fried.
( Lesson here.. I have a gigabit surge connector in the back of my UPS. I need to use that! )
I also need a surge on my coax coming into the house.

Unfortunately, my wife had turned on our 65" TV ironically to see what the weather looked like right before the strike. Bye Bye 65" TV.....

My Martin Logan speakers were plugged directly into the outlets with no protection and they are fine as is my amplifier also directly connected to an outlet.
My OPPO105D and cable boxes on the main level and basement were on decent surge suppressors and they are OK. The cable box in my bedroom was not on a surge and it is dead.

So I learned a few things about this. My router is now protected through the UPS. Duh! I should have done that before. I'm also going to get a coax cable surge system.
( Edit there is a grounded cable surge system outside my house )

In addition I found out that the LED light bulbs specifically the ones that replace the small halogen track light bulbs don't like lighting at all I lost ALL but one of 12 bulbs.

Sorry to hear that Mark, was this recent?

Brad225 said:

Sorry to hear that Mark, was this recent?

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This Monday. Yup.
By midnight Monday I installed a new CableModem and Router and a few other things.

Tomorrow morning they are installing new communication boards in my 2 HVAC systems and I'll have AC back.
On Friday a new 4K 65" TV to replace my dead 65" HD TV will be here.
Tomorrow the garage door opener parts will be here along with new LED lighting for the track lights. I put the old bulbs back in for now.

So we should be back to normal by the weekend.

I have ordered a new APC surge suppressor for my bedroom.

RCHeliGuy, sorry to hear about the lightening strike close to your house.

Good to know that you are okay.

Thanks for your concern.

This is the first time in my life that I've ever lost equipment due to a lightning strike, so I'm trying to take preventative measures, but I'm not trying to over react.

RCHeliGuy, if your house is in a area where there are thunderstorms and your house does not have any building nearby, meaning the only somewhat high building. Then get a lightening conductor rod attached to your house that is higher than the highest chimney and goes below the ground 10 feet where it takes a shape of a large copper plate.

Hope similar incident never occurs again. A ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. I guess this was your wake up call to install true lightening strike protection.

I've lived here for about 7 years and this is the first time. It didn't directly strike my house, but something VERY close by.

If the house had actually been hit by lightning no UPS would have saved anything. It will all be fried.

Hello Mark, so glad to hear the Logans/amp and others made it through. Just goes to show how little we really know about lightning and electrical nasties, kind of like our brain, very different in any situation. There is not an easy answer, we just do what we can and have some faith that it works.

stuwee said:

Hello Mark, so glad to hear the Logans/amp and others made it through. Just goes to show how little we really know about lightning and electrical nasties, kind of like our brain, very different in any situation. There is not an easy answer, we just do what we can and have some faith that it works.

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Since the newer Martin Logans power down when they are not in use so they don't attract dust, I imagine that offers some protection. It's possible that over the years ML has built some protection into them as well. They've had coming up on 3 decades to learn to deal with issues like this.

The OPPO 105D and my music server computer are both plugged into the same Audio surge suppressor. However they were off.

The TV plugged into the same surge suppressor was turned on and it blew.

Turning electronics off during an electrical storm seems prudent and seems to offer the most protection.

Next time I hope my wife looks at the weather on her smart phone when it is storming instead of turning on a TV to see a weather map