On Mar 21, 8:47*am, wrote:
On Mar 20, 9:09*pm, westom wrote:

On Mar 20, 12:26 pm, "hr(bob) "
wrote: They are not capacitors. *They are electronic-semiconductor devices
that are open circuit until some voltage threshold is exceeded, then
they act like a very low resistance to try to limit the voltage. *The
limiting factor is the amount of power the devices can withstand
before exploding due to the heat they generate when acting as s short
circuit. *I don't know a lot more than that, except that they are
usually rated in Joules of energy they can dissipate before blowing
up.

Well, we all knew this was coming. *Mention surge protector, and like
a bolt of lightning from the sky, here comes WTom.





* Either you buy a protector that will somehow absorb all that
energy. *Or you buy protectors based upon how it was done even 100
years ago. *Protection is always about where energy dissipated.
Either that energy remains outside the building. *Or that energy is
inside hunting for earth ground destructively via appliances.
Adjacent protectors simply give surges even more potentially
destructive paths through adjacent appliances.

* An effective surge protector means even the protector remains
functional. *A minimal 'whole house' protector starts at 50,000 amps.
Direct lightning strikes are typically 20,000 amps. *Yes, the
protector must be sized to even earth direct lightning strikes and
remain functional. *And that means the connection to earth must be
additional requirements - short ('less than 10 feet) to earth, no
sharp wire bends, no splices. all protectors meet at (again 'less than
10 feet to') the single point earth ground, ground wires separated
from other non-ground wires, not inside metallic conduit, etc.

* Protection is always about where energy dissipates. *If those
hundreds of thousands of joules dissipate in earth, then no damage.
This is how it was done even 100 years ago.

So far, I would mostly agree. *Except the part about a direct
lightning strike. * A direct lightning strike is mostly a red herring,
because even if the lightning bolt hit the service cable near the
building, it's highly unlikely that the path of all or even most of
the lightning is going to be through the service wire and into the
surge protector. * Far more likely, it will arc with most of the
energy finding ground outside the building before it ever gets to the
surge protector at the panel or meter.



* But somehow a magic box next to the appliance will absorb all those
joules?

Here;s where Tom likes to start arguing against strawmans and the rant
about plug-in surge protectors begins. * *The actual question was
about a whole house surge protector.



Tom does not know anything about surge protection so he is trying to
bluff his way through. he thinks he is appearing intelligent but most
readers can see through his misinformation. It is too bad that he
feels the need to rant about things he knows absolutely nothing
about. Perhaps he could make a more informed opinion on the type of
beer he is drinking.