Originally Posted by westom
Originally Posted by alarmguy
No surge suppressor deserves to be in use over 10 years.
MOVs wear out over time instead of the electronics plugged into it and the purpose of the surge suppressor. The older it gets greatly reduces the capacity to handle a large surge.
5 years is a good time to change it out and what I try to do.
Replace a protector every 5 years to protect from something that happens maybe once every seven years? You are using a near zero joule Belkin. So waste money to protect their profits. Those recommendations clearly are not based in well proven science nor any numbers that define reality.
Does your local telco switching station replace maybe 80,000 protectors every five years? Of course not. Many probably recently finished replacing protectors that were installed 50 years ago. And only because attached equipment was obsolete. Protectors still work just fine.
Tiny joule protectors in a Belkin can fail catastrophically. Such failures explains so many thousands of house fires. This one completely unacceptable failure fortunately did not create a fire:
https://imgur.com/gallery/LPSxO3X But could have due to obviously missing features necessary to avert fire. Why would anyone waste so much money on something so dangerous?
Protectors must never fail catastrophically. Protector parts must only degrade - a threshold voltage (Vb) that changes by 10%. One MOV manufacturer describes numbers for testing for an acceptable failure:
Quote
The change of Vb shall be measured after the impulse listed below is applied 10,000 times continuously with the interval of ten seconds at room temperature.
10,000 times? And for a protector that may only do something once every seven years. Why would anyone constantly replace protectors? Because they are buying ineffective (near zero joule) devices with massive profit margins. And not something that claims to protect from that potentially destructive transient - once every seven years.
The effective protector always answers this question. Where do hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate? No Belkin even answered that question. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground. Belkin has no earth ground. But wants their customers to keep buying a new one every five years? Total profit. Ineffective protection.
Amazing how sales propaganda (subjective claims - no numbers) is believed. Science and specifications ignored. Replace protectors every five years for something that may only happen once every seven? Boy do they know how to increase profits.
Weston, I skimmed over your response to my post. Where you came up with all this stuff (above) is beyond me and needless for me to reply. Fine if you do not want to spend $14.00 on a surge suppressor but why not talk about what you do, rather then someone who uses a suppressor.
You go on in another post to ask people in the area about how reliable the power is, huh? Are you kidding me, its like asking the weather man, will there be a hurricane every 7 years or every 3.
Who cares? Spend $14 and you dont have to ask.
For the benefit of others -
The surge suppressor that I posted in my post a few up in this thread is a deal and can be bought (or I did buy) for less then $14.00. Called Belkin Commerical, high joule rating, no fancy needless lights bells and whistles.
We have surge suppressors on almost any electronic in our house including our refrigerator and washer, most simply cheaper plug in direct model.
But all (5) computers and home entertainment have a $14 Belkin plugged into another on wall suppressor. We change out these suppressors normally when we get a new computer or TV which would be 5 to 10 years. I would never keep the same suppressor for more then 10 years.
I do date them now and stated I change them every 5, maybe I should have expanded on that and say, depending on how important the device, 5 to a MAX of 10 years. Im not to concerned because these devices actually have 2 suppressors on them.
1 Direct plug in the wall model and a Belkin with a cord type. I am not brand loyal and buy what I can get a best price on, though I do like Trip Light brand if I feel like spending a little extra such as having the cheap Belkin plugged into the ISOBAR direct plug in stated in my posts above this one.
Suppressors are purely optional extra protection and why I do not spend a lot of money on them. On a daily basis they help filter out fluctuation in the power supply which comes from everyday stuff taking place in your home, heating and a/c clicking on and off, that 12 amp vacuum clicking on and off, the car a couple blocks away knocking down an electric pole, small surges due to power interruptions and distant lightening strikes.
The power supply in your electronic device can filter out most of these surges all the time, until the time they no longer can/get worn out, a surge suppressor helps and also helps during a major surge (however rare) that your electronic can not handle.
One other thing not mentioned by Weston is they also help filter out noise in the line which is a help for Internet modems and routers, computers and phone systems.
Anyway, not sure of Westons point but my point is, you can buy some effective surge suppressors a really good prices if you want a little more protection. I service and install security systems 5 days a week commercial and residential and farms. When summertime comes at least a call a week, sometimes more, is replacing blown out equipment. A suppressor will not stop direct lightening but will stop surges in power lines of a little more distant lightening. Many times the customer has some blown out TVs or equipment and others have survived, even on the same line, its cases like this if there was a suppressor, that equipment would have survived.
Do what you wish, my last post in this thread
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Maybe ... ha ha ..
