Doug White wrote:

We've been thinking of getting one installed, so I did a little research.
Leviton seems to be the biggest vendor in the US. They have an
interesting dodge, which is a surge arrestor that goes in series with
electric meter, inside the metter housing. In my case, this is outside
of the house, which means if it turns into a fireball, it probably won't
do a lot of damage. I also like the idea of stopping the surge as early
in the wiring as possible.

http://www.levitonproducts.com/catal..._50240-MSA.htm

You would, in all probability, have to have permission from the utility
to use it.

The clamp voltage is 800V. According to Martzloff (was the NIST surge
expert) equipment can withstand about 600-800V surges. The 800V rating
sounds way too high to me. (On the other hand, the 330V rating on most
suppressors may be lower than needed.) It is a "nominal" clamp voltage.
With a strong surge the voltage is forced upward from 800V.

If there is a strong surge, the path to earth is through the neutral
from meter can to service panel, through the required neutral-ground
bond (almost always in the service panel), and to the earthing
electrode. The voltage drop on the neutral will add to the clamp
voltage. A surge is a very short duration event, so the current
components are relatively high frequency, so the inductance of the wire
is more important than the resistance. See the discussion on lead length
in the IEEE guide starting pdf page 22. In effect you are adding the
neutral wire to the lead length.

I would rather have a suppressor where I have total control over it
(service panel).

Probability of catastrophic failure is very low. Martzloff has written
"in fact, the major cause of [suppressor] failures is a temporary
overvoltage, rather than an unusually large surge." A cause of
"Temporary overvoltage" would be crossed power wires, as elsewhere in
this thread.

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bud--