Whole house surge suppressor

[jordanthompson]

For what its worth, I bought and installed this Square D surge suppressor:Shop Square D Load Center Hardwired Surge Protection Device at Lowes.com
It was inexpensive and relatively easy to install - if you don't mind getting into your electrical panel Supposedly it will protect the entire house from a lighting strike. I had looked into these a while ago, but the were much more expensive. Obviously they have dropped significantly in price. The electrician at Lowes recommended to replace it every three years (I put a reminder in my phone.) It has an idiot light to tell you it is still working.

[Doug_G]

Something that small will protect you from an indirect strike, maybe, but just once. It will be destroyed in the process.

[jordanthompson]

Correct, that is my understanding also.

[W.Petefish]

Even still, unplug your roadster when a storm is coming. That is the best insurance against lightning.

Also an indirect strike will still fry things. So, even if lightning doesn't strike your house it can still send a spike down the lines.

[AnOutsider]

Thanks for this, I'll ask my builder about solutions like these.

[jerry33]

The one I have has a couple of lights on it to tell you when it needs replacing.

[jordanthompson]

I have lived in central Florida (the lighting capital of the world) for 27 years and have never had an issue with any electronics getting fried because of a surge by lightning or even Florida Flicker & Flash (please note - I don't want to appear to threaten Thor by any means!) I saw this item and figured it can't really hurt anything.
This device has a single LED that is supposed to remain on when it is working. You don't reset it - you replace it.

[jerry33]

The more common problem is having a car hit a power pole which sends a big spike up the line.

[westom]

Thanks for this, I'll ask my builder about solutions like these.

Learn some important facts. No protector does protection. Either a protector makes a low impedance (ie 'less than 10 foot') connection to what does protection. Or it is a profit center.

Some protection systems have no protector. But every protection system has the only item that does all protection. Earth ground.

Critical to protection is the quality of and connection to earth. For example, if the ground wire from a breaker box and 'whole house' protector goes up over the foundation, then protection is compromised. Wire too long. Too many sharp bends. Ground wire not separated from other wires. That ground wire must go through the foundation and down to an earthing electrode. Shorter. No sharp bends. And other important considerations.

Also critical is single point earth ground. Not any earth ground. All incoming utilities must enter at a common location so make the low impedance (ie 'less than 10 foot') connection to the same earth ground.

Protectors say little about protection. Protection is increased by upgrading the earth ground. After all, where do hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate? Outside in earth.

Ufer grounds were pioneered in munitions dumps because direct lightning strikes must not cause damage. Surge protection is best installed before footings are poured. An example of what was done to make better earthing (to have better surge protection):
UFER grounding system
The Ufer Ground

If any one wire enters without connecting to earth, than all protection is compromised. TV cable must connect short to earth without any protector. Telephone will not work if earthed directly. So telcos install a 'whole house' protector on all phone lines for free. Best protection for the cable is a wire. The telco installed protector is only doing what a wire might do. Protectors are simple science. The art (and most every question) is about what defines protection. Single point earth ground.

Lightning is typically 20,000 amps. So a minimal 'whole house' protector starts to 50,000 amps. Because a protector must earth even direct lightning strikes - and remain functional.

That light can only report a failure that must never happen. That light only reports that the protector was grossly undersized. If the protector must be replaced every three years, then it was grossly undersized. Replacing power strip protectors often is recommended because those expensive 'profit centers' are grossly undersized. A properly earthed 'whole house' protector should remain functional for decades.

Properly earthed protector means nobody even knew a surge existed. If damage occurs, then the analysis starts with what defines protection. Not the protector. Earth ground.

Each protection layer is only defined by its earth ground. The 'whole house' protector is only secondary protection. Also inspect your primary surge protection layer. A picture of what to inspect:
Florida Power Light and BellSouth

Time to install protection is before the footings are poured.

[Doug_G]

Yes, like I said, that undersized gadget might protect you from an indirect spike, once, maybe.

Reminds me of a story...

I used to work with a fellow who cut his teeth as a radar engineer in WWII. Bob wasn't just hugely experienced, he was truly a genius, and perhaps not surprisingly a bit quirky. One day one of the guys asked Bob if he could fix his halogen desk lamp. A quick check showed the transformer had blown. No problem. Bob told him he'd wind him a new transformer, and to come back in a couple of days.

Two days later Bob presented him with the repaired desk lamp. It now had this huge lump of iron and coils attached to the base.

The astonished lamp owner said, "Why is it so big? The original one fit in the base!"

"Well, that one burned out, didn't it?!? This one won't."