westom wrote:

People want to think of surge protection in terms of a magic box.
The protector is not protection. The protector is only as effective as
its earth ground.

It is the religious belief in earthing. Apparently, because it makes him
look so stupid, w doesn't want to clearly say what he believes - that
plug-in suppressors do not work.

With minimal reading and thinking ability, poor w could read in the
IEEE guide how plug-in suppressors work. It is not primarily by
earthing. It is by clamping the voltage on all wires to the ground at
the suppressor.

Contrary to w's religious belief, both the IEEE and NIST guide say
plug-in suppressors are effective.

We can never make the building sufficiently equipotential. So
earthing must be more conductive. But we can never make those
electrodes sufficiently conductive. So we also make better
equipotenial.

Well isn't that clear.

Much of the surge protection is from power and phone and cable wires
being at the same potential, even if it is elevated far above "absolute"
ground potential by a surge. Martzloff has written that is more
important than further lowering the resistance to earth. It requires a
short wire from the phone and cable entry protectors to the "ground" at
the service panel.

Parts of a house in contact with the earth have about zero probability
of being "equipotential".

For example, a power strip protector may use only 1/3rd of its joules
and never more than 2/3rds. Yes, some will play games with that
joules number. But the only useful joules are those that actually
conduct a surge to earth. A ‘whole house’ protector typically uses
all joules: longer protector life expectancy.

For both a service panel suppressor and plug-in suppressors the Joules
that are "used" depends on the wires the surge hits on.

In the case of a plug-in suppressor, high energy ratings are readily
(and cheaply) available which make it very unlikely the suppressor will
ever fail. (Tests show the amount of energy from a surge that is
actually absorbed in a plug-in suppressor is surprisingly small.) That
is one reason why some manufacturers can provide protected equipment
warrantees. The service panel suppressors the OP was looking at had a 3
year warrantee that did not include any consumer electronics (which is
the most likely to be damaged).

--
bud--