Whole House Surge Protectors

[Bob_Roller]

I was looking at the Gruber website today checking the dimensions of their motorcycle batteries, as two of our members have received batteries that would not fit the R65 battery box.

I was looking at the other parts of their site, and came across surge protectors for the entire house.

It is installed in the circuit breaker box, before the power is distributed to the various circuits in the house.

Anyone have any experience with this electrical device ?

[aussie]

Yes - I installed one about 5 years ago. I have no idea why, but Adelaide has an 'interesting' power supply. It can be off one moment and surges the next.

Unfortunately I lost a computer - hence the installation. Rather spectacular it was. Seriously though it scared the bejeezus outta me.

I was initally going to just install a power board with this option - but then I figured it would be better if I went the whole hog and installed one for the entire house. From memory it cost $169, and about $60 for installation.

I'm thinking it may have saved me some more money......

[Bob_Roller]

Thanks Aussie,

Power surges from the electrical company aren't my main concern, lightning strikes are !

The third week of August of last year, we had a particularly violent thunderstorm in my area.

The rain and wind weren't too untypical of a summer thunderstorm, but I've never see a lightning "light show" like this storm had.

Installing a device like this has been on my mind ever since.

[not-so-fast-ed]

Keep us posted, Bob.   I've thought about it too.

[Darwin_R65]

my experience is only with larger commercial ones, or smaller comms modules on solar powered sites.
We've just replaced the CRITEC MOV units feeding 3 phase 415V into our building.
Each phase was $400 each.
But then each unit has 5 levels of protection with LED's to indicate how much protection is still left. We were down to 20% on one phase so we replaced the lot.

Have thought about for the house but never ventured very far on it. Darwin apparently is one of the most lightning prone locations in the world. We get a lot of electrical shows. Lightning strikes also produce some interesting results on electrical equipment. If I get to my normal office this week I might take some photos and show you some examples. We've had some communication leads where the lightning has vapourised the copper, not a trace of metal left and the insulation slightly melted.

John

[MrRiden]

I vote for surge protectors. I was always a skeptic until after one storm here in the desert I had to replace a TV, computer and have a guitar amp repaired. Thing is, none of this equipment was powered on at the time.
rich

[nhmaf]

I may look into one later this year as part of getting a backup propane-fueled electric generator installed.   We don't often get surges, but do get frequent power outages, which can be especially bad during winter storms when the temps can go down to -20 or -30 and one has no electricity to run the furnace, etc.    

[Altritter]

We just had an electrician install two whole-house suppressors (one for each 200-amp breaker panel) in our house. The tab was approximately $250 each (he did other work for us at the same time, as I recall.)

These are one-shot suppressors. If there is a surge great enough to blow them, they must be replaced. Sounds stiff, but on reflection, it would be a lot less expensive than replacing every major electrical item in our house.

Even with whole-house protection, I still operate a large surge protector/uninterrupted power supply for my computer. The purpose is not so much for surges protection, but rather protection against brown-outs (voltage drops), that can fry electronics as dead as surges.

[Lucky_Lou]

Im not certain it would help in a lightning strike as the surge is likely to come into the wiring post (after) protection and via the neutral (non switched) side .
One of my customers had a strike on his petrol station it toasted all the carwash plc,s and the access terminals luvvly job for me only good thing for him was the insurance covered it and the storage tanks didnt go up.
As Mr Ridens experience testifies to.
Lou

[Bob_Roller]

My concern was having the 'surge' come down the electrical utility power line, there's a power generating station about .75 miles from the house, with a boat load of transformers, and other metal structures in the area, the power comes down above ground wires, then go underground just before it enters the neighborhood .

I've been looking into lightning protection for the roof of the house, and there is a local supplier, that caters to the do-it-yourselfers, something else to consider, and the cost isn't that great .