On Sep 26, 12:30 pm, bud-- wrote:
Excellent information on surges and surge protection is in an IEEE guide at:
http://www.mikeholt.com/files/PDF/LightningGuide_FINALpublishedversio...
And one from the NIST at:http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/p.../surgesfnl.pdf

Both citations state why plug-in protectors make no protection
claims from typically destructive surges. Bud will never provide a
manufacturer spec that claims such protection. Bud will ignore
request for facts because Bud is a sales promoter of plug-in
protectors. No plug-in protectors will provide numerical specs for
protection.

The first citation demonstrates how a plug-in protector earths a
surge, 8000 volts destructively, through an adjacent TV. That is
effective protection? A surge not earthed before entering a building
MUST find earth ground inside the building. That plug-in protection
on Page 42 Figure 8: the surge is earthed 8000 volts destructively
through an adjacent TV. A protector without a short (ie 'less than 10
foot') connection to earth must earth that surge somewhe 8000
volts destructively through the adjacent TV - Page 42 Figure 8.

Second citation is just as blunt. Surge energy does not just
disappear. A protector does not magically absorb that surge. Surge
energy must be dissipated somewhere. Therefore the NIST says on page
6 (Adobe page 8 of 24):
You cannot really suppress a surge altogether, nor
"arrest" it. What these protective devices do is
neither suppress nor arrest a surge, but simply
divert it to ground, where it can do no harm.

Where does the effective protector divert surges? To earth ground.
Same NIST guide is even blunter. On page 17 (Adobe page 19 of 24):
A very important point to keep in mind is that your
surge protector will work by diverting the surges to
ground. The best surge protection in the world can
be useless if grounding is not done properly.

Either surge energy gets dissipated (absorbed) harmlessly by earth
OR that surge is diverted (8000 volts destructively) through adjacent
appliances. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground.
NIST, IEEE, and other professional organizations make that statement
repeatedly in guides and in Standards.

Will Bud's tiny protector absorb a surge? Of course not. Even the
cable company recommended removing ineffective (and massively
profitable) plug-in protectors. An effective protector absorbs almost
no energy while diverting massive surge energy into earth. Why does
one effective 'whole house' protector remain functional after direct
lightning strikes AND protect everything inside the building?
Effective protection also costs tens or 100 times less money.

Essential to surge protection is the quality of earth ground. An
example demonstrates the concept:
A FL couple had an exterior bathroom wall struck repeatedly.
Lightning rods were installed and connected to eight foot earthing
rods. Lightning again struck the bathroom wall. Why? Lightning took
the better connection to earth. Bathroom pipes connected to deeper,
more conductive limestone. Lightning rods were only earthed in sand.
Another example of why protection is only as effective as the
earthing. The surge found the better path to earth via bathroom pipes
– not via eight foot ground rods.

Any surge will seek a best connection to earthborne charges located
miles away. Any utility wire surge that finds a best path to earth
before entering a building need not enter that building. Where surge
damage occurs (ie a nuclear hardened maritime radio station), the
informed professional learned from the damage and corrected a
defective earthing system:
"Reliable Protection of Electronics Against Lightning: Some
Practical Applications" by van der Laan and van Deursen on 4 Nov 1998.

Where does surge energy get dissipated? Destructively inside a
building? Will a protector rated at a trivial hundred or thousand
joules dissipate hundreds of thousands of joules? Of course not.
Will an in-line coax protector stop what three miles of sky could
not? Obviously not. More reasons why surges must be dissipated in
earth. OP's solution means single point earth ground, coax wire
properly earthed by a ground block, and a 'whole house' protector on
incoming AC wires. That's what professionals recommend, what those two
citations demonstrate, and what a plug-in protector sales promoter
will not recommend.