Whole house surge protector

A nice item to have, but don't feel totally secure. Lightning can bypass the protector and enter directly into the house wiring.

Trainman9

In our home in Florida before we moved back to TN we constantly had power surges. I replaced several modems and answer machines as well as having to re set every electric clock many times. Even burning out the boards in the electric entrance gates twice. Finally contacting the power company and they had a fix. It's a surge protector built in the meter itself. I had them install not only the house meter but also the barn separate meter. Costly, 500.00 each. However they are warrantied for ownership. Never had any more problems. The deal was if it trips, the power company comes out and puts a temp in and sends mine off for repairs and when it's returned they come out and install it . No charge. It tripped one time in the next 5 years. When it trips you don't loose power it just starts buzzing indicating you have no protection for surges until you get it repaired. I am not a electrician and don't how it works, but can tell you it did work well.

After severe thunderstorms we were often replacing electronic containing electrical appliances(TV, VCR, radio, micro wave ovens).  We had the electric supplier install a whole house surge protector on the back of the electric meter and that ended our surge related problems about 15 years ago. 

Back in July, my house took a direct hit from lightning.

Too bad I wasn't at home but my wife and daughter witnessed it as it struck the back door (metal) and sent pieces of the door frame exploding into the living room.

Thank God they were not hurt.

Everything on that side of the house (computer, printer, modem/router, TV PS3) was plugged into a GOOD surge protector.

The surge protector survived!

The TV and PS3 survived!

The printer survived!

The computer, monitor, cable modem and router did not.

About $1500 to repair the door frame and replace everything else. Not bad considering it could have been a lot worse.

Lightning is really strange and amazing stuff. I cant figure out why the lightning completely ignored the large steel framed and roofed building in my backyard, missed two large trees, then ducked under the porch roof to strike the room occupied by my wife and daughter.

If you live in an area with a lot of lighting strikes then get a set of arrestors installed on the roof line by a professional installer.  If you live in/near an industrial area where there is heavy use of electricity get a whole house surge suppressor.  

If you don't have to worry about either of the above situations good surge suppression outlets that are properly installed and periodically tested will cover every thing else.  

A direct hit on the house by lightening will probably bypass the whole house surge device.  Any equipment that is plugged into any kind of "network" (e.g. cat 5, coax, phone line) can be destroyed by back flashing (aka the lightening directly entered one device and the surge travels on these aux wires taking them out as it tries to find ground).

I don't think that is an option in PA. The utility companies are in the process of installing smart meters.

I'm not so much concerned about lightning strikes as power surges in the event of routine power failures. Sometimes when the electric company restores power the sudden return creates a voltage spike. We lost one TV a couple of years ago.

That should not happen and I know that it does.  We lost a fridge because of a series of rapid short brownouts (opposite of a surge).  Compressor was trying to start up when the voltage dropped down to south of 90.  Just enough energy to keep it "trying", just long enough to burn it out.

The only way to protect everything in the house from any of this is to have a whole home UPS, aka a natural gas stand by generator with transfer circuits to isolate you from the grid when the main lines start acting up.  These have come way down in price but are still expensive and not something you can do yourself.

Hi Trainman9

Just give them a call for grins and see what the power company says. I don't know the total definitions of a smart meter. But those did not require a visit . It was read by a computer with no visit necessary. I think that did that in my case so they didn't have to go through all my electric gates.

Transient Voltage Surge Suppression (TVSS) is most effective when installed in a layered approach. Entirely acceptable to have it on the main service and the individual circuit. I have and use a good quality TVSS on my electronics.

If your surge suppressor actually takes a lightning strike, you'll be lucky if it only destroys your surge suppressor. In my train room, the recepticles are on a switch. With the switch in the "off" position, the exposure to lightning damage is minimized.

http://ecmweb.com/content/demystifying-tvss 

Gilly

The only sure way is to unplug when it comes to lighting storms. I sure have tried everything man has made but my electric fencers have never once survived a strike to the fence.

I use the outlet ones at home but I still unplug most key things such as the TV etc when a storm is coming. I am on a hill all fields so the only high objects are the house and barn and about four trees.

Power surge, off and on then off and on, just drives me crazy. So far the outlet surge protectors have worked.

Direct strike to the home. Nothing and I mean nothing survived including some light bulbs. Lucky this only happened once and when I say everything I mean everything that was plugged into the wall was destroyed. Yes large and small appliances too.

quote:

Just wondering. Has anyone had a whole house surge protector installed

I have one. It was installed when we upgraded our service panel as part of a kitchen remodel (also put in a manual generator transfer switch).
The thought was to try to protect the boards in all those electronically controlled kitchen appliances, as well as our washer and dryer.

The owner of the electrical subcontracting company recommended that local surge protector continue to be used on computers.

Probably the best house surge protection is offered by your power company, expensive but worth it. Especially here in Florida, a.k.a. lightning capital of the country.

I unplug my train stuff when not in use. Surge protection is nice but you may also need battery back-up or generator when you have low voltage or brown-out occur.

Surge protector can not work on low voltage problems, that's where either a generator or battery back-up unit comes in.

Had a refrigerator on a battery back-up unit for almost 22 hours, of course the batteries were marine grade 1100 CCA; four of them in series parallel for a total of 24 volts at 2200 CCA's. It cost somewhere near $750.00 or more for the system.

A 120 volt motor can take a slightly higher voltage for a little bit and not have to worry any, may even run better, but it is the lower voltage that will do them more harm.

Your computer needs a battery back-up with surge protector.

Lee Fritz

Many years ago I was living in NC and a thunderstorm came through the area. I unplugged the TV. I don't remember a direct lightning strike, just a storm. The TV was zapped. It was repaired, and the repairman said the TV was zapped through the cable connection.

Nowadays, I buy the surge protector power strips with the additional connections for cable, modem, etc. I don't live in an area prone to thunderstorms, so I don't know how well the extra protection works, but I figure it helps to have the extra protection.

From UL:  Surge Protective Devices UL 1449 

As some else said, you should use the layered approach for the most benefit.  

UL Type 1 - Installed by the power company or electrician on the input side of the meter.

UL Type 2 - Installed in each panel in the house.

UL Type 3 - Installed at point of use.

Each will increase the level protection, lower clamping voltage.

Also, more explanation:  Leviton - Surge Protection Devices

This becomes more important as our appliances come with more electronics: furnace, refrigerator, washer and dryer.  I have had to have the refrigerator control board replaced (microprocessor).

These units will wear out and eventually need to be replaced.

Lightning is a whole-nother subject.  With a direct or almost direct hit, it will do very strange things.  I used to work on electronic nav-aids on airports.  Sometimes you needed to thoroughly ground everything other times disconnecting the ground prevented lightning strikes.

Hope this helps.

Dan

Lightning can be very elusive when it hits. I had a water pump get a secondary hit by lightning, it hit the electric fence nearby that my neighbor had for his livestock and then traveled underground and got my water pump. Had no water in the house for over 12 hours until the pump repair man came out and checked things out, said everything appeared good so give it a try after I replaced the fuses. Fortunately I just had to replace some fuses, four 30 amp fuses were blown out, two at the pump and two at the fuse box on the side of the house. 

Lee Fritz