Whole house surge protector legit?

[jayjr1105]

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Square-...rge-Protective-Device-QO2175SB/100202111 Our house and 90% of US is littered with electronics. Are these whole house surge protectors worth it? I will soon have a void in my panel when I switch an electric range to a gas one so this will fill that void nicely.

 

[Cujet]

I live in South Florida, AND my house backs up to the NENA area (north east everglades natural area) Everglades in Jupiter. As such, we get lightning strikes galore. As the lightning avoids the water and hits my house. There are various surge protectors available. The link shows one in the 20kv range. That's pretty low. Unfortunately, the larger and more capable ones will not shunt a minor surge. Sooooo, I have both a small one and a large one, on the advice of local electricians. The best choice might be a professional grade unit that covers all ranges effectively, along with 2 grounding rods at least 10 feet apart. The Seimens FS140 has a great reputation, if you can get your hands on one. https://www.amazon.com/Siemens-FS14...&hvtargid=pla-315970290468&psc=1 OH, and follow the directions carefully. The wiring MUST NOT have sharp bends in it. As a true lightning strike will jump right out of the ground wire at the bend.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted by Cujet

I live in South Florida, AND my house backs up to the NENA area (north east everglades natural area) Everglades in Jupiter. As such, we get lightning strikes galore. As the lightning avoids the water and hits my house. There are various surge protectors available. The link shows one in the 20kv range. That's pretty low. Unfortunately, the larger and more capable ones will not shunt a minor surge. Sooooo, I have both a small one and a large one, on the advice of local electricians. The best choice might be a professional grade unit that covers all ranges effectively, along with 2 grounding rods at least 10 feet apart. The Seimens FS140 has a great reputation, if you can get your hands on one. https://www.amazon.com/Siemens-FS14...&hvtargid=pla-315970290468&psc=1 OH, and follow the directions carefully. The wiring MUST NOT have sharp bends in it. As a true lightning strike will jump right out of the ground wire at the bend.

Whats the price on the professional ones?

 

[nickaluch]

I don't know if there legit but from my experience I would say yes. When I finished my basement I installed one on my panel while I was running the electric. During and after super storm Sandy we were getting electric spikes and on and off constantly. Everything in my house was fine afterwards my neighbors not so lucky. Everyone lost a board or two on there appliances even a few TV's. My one neighbor the board on his furnace was fried $900 repair. So I do recommend just spend a little more money on a better one. You don't need a super expensive one since you live in PA. If you lived in FL I would recommend you follow Cujet advise.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

And don't skimp on the wire to the grounding rods! In this case, bigger is always better.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Originally Posted by Cujet

OH, and follow the directions carefully. The wiring MUST NOT have sharp bends in it. As a true lightning strike will jump right out of the ground wire at the bend.

There's a reason basic electrical training teaches current similar to the amount of flow of water out of a hose, and voltage as the pressure. Some estimates consider lightning bolts to be around 1 BILLION volts... so a parallel is even 480V is roughly 2 million times less than lightning, meaning your water analogy of roughly 45psi of tap water would become roughly 93 MILLION psi.... hence why it despises sharp bends and blows right through the insulation. Smooth flow is always better/safer! Also always keep the ground runs as short as possible, no longer than necessary.

 

[jayjr1105]

Originally Posted by SubieRubyRoo

And don't skimp on the wire to the grounding rods! In this case, bigger is always better.

My area just requires a single rod near the meter outside with #6 solid copper. On top of that a #8 is required to the incoming water line.

 

[Kestas]

As I understand it, the whole house surge suppressors will filter out any voltage spikes going into the house. The house itself can generate voltage spikes. Additional surge suppressors may be needed immediately before any electronic equipment.

 

[slo town]

When we bought a brand new house and lived briefly in Colorado Springs, CO (lots of lightning), I had the electrical utility come out and install a whole house surge protector. It actually tied into the main wires upstream from the circuit breaker box. It was a substantial piece of kit, not the simple thing you show on Amazon. I paid for it via a surcharge on our monthly electric bill. FWIW, Scot

 

[jayjr1105]

Originally Posted by SLO_Town

When we bought a brand new house and lived briefly in Colorado Springs, CO (lots of lightning), I had the electrical utility come out and install a whole house surge protector. It actually tied into the main wires upstream from the circuit breaker box. It was a substantial piece of kit, not the simple thing you show on Amazon. I paid for it via a surcharge on our monthly electric bill. FWIW, Scot

What you're describing is pretty much the same thing but beefier which requires it be installed in a box adjacent to the panel.

 

[MasterSolenoid]

I have a Whole House Surge Protector wired into the Circuit Breaker Box (Siemens) did it myself. My neighbor lost a TV once. Installing was a nice Winter project. For any surges that originate inside the house (from any motor turning ON) I plug my electronics into separate Surge Protectors (bought at any big box store).

 

[440Magnum]

I would say they're "legit," after all the link is a reputable brand (Square-D) and the engineering of surge protection isn't exotic. But you have to remember that surge protection in all forms is a bit of a statistical gamble. Surges come in different forms with different peak voltages, different pulse widths, some are oscillations, some are more DC pulses, some are due to equipment on the power grid itself, (a substation dropping a big branch line can put a surge on the lines that aren't dropped, for example), and some are external like lightning strikes. A protector can only do so much, it can't really guarantee that no abnormal voltage pattern get through... it just decreases the odds of damage. And many surge protection devices do so by taking on damage themselves, so they have to be replaced after doing their job. What I've chosen to do is put individual smaller surge protectors on my devices that are either high value or high sensitivity... things like the main computer, the TV, the expensive fridge with an electronic brain and variable-frequency drive compressor, etc. In other words, I let the lower-value stuff on my home power grid (old style more rugged motors, light bulbs, resistive loads etc.) take some of the brunt of surges and let the point-of-use protectors "clean up" whatever is left over right at the device to be protected.

 

[NO2]

No surge protector will stop a direct lightning strike. I would just install local ones on your electronics and appliances. For most places, brownouts are more of an issue.

 

[jayjr1105]

Originally Posted by NO2

No surge protector will stop a direct lightning strike. I would just install local ones on your electronics and appliances. For most places, brownouts are more of an issue.

I do have surge protectors on most expensive electronics and I agree with the direct lightning strike thing. When I replace my stove with Gas, I'll have 2 spots open on my panel. This will fill that gap nicely and possibly save some electronics down the road from a surge.

 

[Fitter30]

I'm in a very rural area have overhead lines. Telephone is buried 1/4 mile to house. Have that style of protection at panel and use surge protection strips at all electronic devises and on my cordless landline use surge on the phone line since in 14 years have loss 10 cordless phones from lighting but since adding surge protection on phone wire survived at least two lighting strikes close to the house.

 

[JMJNet]

IMO, just put one in if you can. It may or may not help but who knows. I have one in my breaker box and all the electronics. The computers are connected to UPS also which usually include a surge protection.

 

[Cujet]

Originally Posted by Donald

Whats the price on the professional ones?

I think the quote was well upwards of $1000, not sure of the brand or capabilities. I have a circuit breaker type unit (forget the brand, that is 20kv and a Square D unit that is 80kv) I'm tired of fried equipment.

 

[Driz]

Originally Posted by SubieRubyRoo

And don't skimp on the wire to the grounding rods! In this case, bigger is always better.

Same goes for grounding rods . More really is better. Even more important in habitually dry soils or sitting on a shale head( like us) so you can't get deep into the ground. We had lots of issues for years mainly coming in via the power line. I could only go 4' down so cut a couple more 8' rods on half angled them for most contact then linked the whole circle together. Never another blown anything in 15+ years. I got that idea from an old timer on web site while trying to get my electric fence working right. He said almost all fencer issues were bad ground And that it often took a few rods , which no one did , to get adequate grounding. Right or wrong it seemed to work for us in both arenas

 

[bdcardinal]

When we had new load centers installed in 2018 I had them put a whole home surge protector on the main load center. It took up 2 slots but it is worth it I think. I also have APC UPS's on my desktop and the main TV.

 

[zzyzzx]

I really hate how those power strips with built in surge suppressors are usually in plastic enclosures. That's like asking for a fire if the surge supressure actually works. If you ever buy a power strip with built-in surge suppression, make sure it's in a metal enclosure. You will probably have to mail order it to get it like that though.