wrote in message
ups.com...
On 10 Apr, 14:29, TheOldFellow wrote:

United Utilities are going to do some work here next week and plan to
replace my mains with a generator for a day. Rather good of them I
thought, last time they just cut me off. My suspicion is that this
might last longer than expected, hence the generator.

The question is, though, do I keep my computers on (websites, mailserver
etc)? My suspicion is that the generator is likely to be much more
spiky and I don't trust surge protection after the recent thread.

Does anyone have any experience?

R.

Unfortunately yes. It all depends on the gen and the load. A small gen
will create huge inductive kicks, and I would be wary of putting a
computer on one. OTOH a big industrial thing running lots of other
loads has aall those other loads to absorb the inductive surges that
all generators produce.

Although surge absorbers are a total waste of time on main, on gennies
I would use them.

Why do you say that surge protectors are a waste of time?

I suppose that, in a way they are, because my computer was damaged by a big
spike that the surge protector didn't stop. On the other hand though, it was
a Belkin one that came with an insurance-backed guarantee and they did pay
up to replace my computer - so, no, it didn't do its job as it should have
done but it didn't cost me a penny to get my computer replaced and from that
point of view, well worth the money it cost to buy it.

John