Surge Protectors Filters

Surge Protectors

The bottom line is that surge protection is an insurance policy. Most likely you will never get a return on your investment in cash but some comfort in fulfilling an obligation to protect your electronic equipment. No mater what you do if it’s your turn the lightning will get you. The more you have to protect the more protection you need. Buying a surge protector without any specifications would not comfort me in spite of the fact that most of the technical jargon is pointless.

The least important protection device is the hole house indoor service panel surge protector. I could not find a significant difference in the specifications of most models and comfortable with my selection. Play the odds 20% of 30,000 to 1 that a $300 investment might save X$ and aggravation. Provided all incoming lines originating outside, including electrical, telephone, cable, and antenna lines are also surge protected. The lightning rod is extra but after all that you got to protect your protection.

More importantly is the point-of-use surge protection. If the choice is sacrificial shunt protection it should be with a protection working light and with a thermal fuse protection component. The big question is do you want inexpensive dominant technology with sacrificial shunt to restore power after the surge even though you will no longer be protected from the aftershock or upgrade to power off after surge.
Secondly can you afford the benefit of a series surge filter that can repeatedly eliminate damaging surge energy and noise and a must decision and expense if the power must be restored after the main surge as is the case with some computers and servers that are generally kept operational 24 7.

Whole House Breaker Panel Surge Protectors

Better SquareD SDSB1175C $390 Commercial Office Quality

http://www.stopsurges.com/SQUARE-D-SDSB1175C-WHOLE-HOUSE-SURGE-PROTECTOR-CABLE-AND-PHONE-SDSB1175C.htm

OK Leviton CAT. NOS. 51120 $260 Homeowner quality

http://www.smarthome.com/manuals/4860.pdf

CheeseE Intermatic SKU # 552488 $240 home depot

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&productId=100396389&langId=1&catalogId=10053&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=100396389&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googlebase-_-D27X-_-100396389

Plug-in point-of-use series surge protectors and filters.

Better Belkin Home/Office Series Surge Protector
8 Outlet with Coaxial Protection
Part # BE108230-06 $44.99
Homeowner 6 outlet with power off $25
http://www.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=300414

Pricy Tripp Lite Home/Office, Computer Networks
8 Outlets with Telephone Protection Model #: ISOTEL8ULTRA $130.00
4 Outlet Model #: ISOBAR4ULTRA $85
http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/model.cfm?txtModelID=112

Coax Cable and Telephone Serge Protector

Series coaxial cable Serge Protector $5
http://www.pccables.com/02404.htm

Shunt In-Line® Grounded Coaxial Lightning Surge Protectors $10
http://www.homenetworkingdepot.com/html/file03/satellite/dss/dssproduct03/sub_passive/tii_protector/tii_frame.html?=212FF75F.html

Single telephone line and burglar alarm Surge Protector $40
http://www.elkproducts.com/products/elk-951.htm

Single telephone line Surge Protector $25
http://www.sandman.com/surge.html

More Surge Protectors with specifications.

Control Concepts, (800) 288-6169, www.control-concepts.com
http://www.emerson.com/sites/Network_Power/en-US/Products/ProductClass/Pages/Point-of-Use.aspx?8109C=United%20States

Eaton Electrical, (877) 932-9322, www.eatonelectrical.com
http://www.eaton.com/EatonCom/Markets/Electrical/Products/ResidentialProducts/SurgeTrap/index.htm

Panamax (800) 472-5555 www.panamax.com
http://www.panamax.com/Products/Floor-Models/Default.aspx

Basic Surge Protector Information

A service entrance surge protector can provide some protection from the 20 percent of surges originating outside a house, but not the 80 percent of surges which originate within a house.

The point-of-use plug-in protection should also be used with each piece of sensitive equipment.

The dominant technology is sacrificial shunt mode, it can reach end-of-life after only a single large surge, in a power surge, and all of the excess energy of the surge is diverted by a MOV, causing it to get hot. Shunt requires a "protection working" light or power off protection, once the protection has been destroyed by a power surge the outlets are controlled to no longer provide power until the damaged power strip is replaced. Thermal Fuse Protection is because MOVs heat up several hundred degrees after dissipating a power surge so there is a potential for the surge protection device or material surrounding to catch fire.

The second type is plug-in point-of-use series surge filter and can repeatedly eliminate damaging surge energy and noise. Series mode protection operates in series with the hot wire and works by passively blocking the surge voltage rather than by dissipating energy when absorbing the diverted surge. Combination shunt series Surge Protector Filters are best.

All incoming lines originating outside, including electrical, telephone, cable, alarm, and antenna lines should be surge protected.

Jim Raab