On Mar 26, 6:35 pm, wrote:
Most of those same responsible companies also sell plug-in surge
protectors too. Some recommend using them in conjunction with their
whole house surge protectors.

And so would I. If you are so misinformed as to spend up to $150
for an APC or Monster protector, well, GE sells the equivalent product
for $15.

Meanwhile the IEEE puts numbers to this stuff. A properly earthed
'whole house' protector is 99.5 to 99.9% protection. That 'whole
house' protector required to even protect those ineffective plug-in
protectors. Plug-in protectors that will magically absorb hundreds of
thousands of joules can create these scary pictures (and the fire
marshal who describes why the threat exists:
http://www.hanford.gov/rl/?page=556&parent=554
http://www.ddxg.net/old/surge_protectors.htm
http://www.zerosurge.com/HTML/movs.html
http://tinyurl.com/3x73ol
http://www3.cw56.com/news/articles/local/BO63312/
http://www.nmsu.edu/~safety/news/les...tectorfire.htm
http://www.pennsburgfireco.com/fullstory.php?58339

To avoid that failure, the informed consumer earths one 'whole
house' protector for about $1 per protected appliance. Then those $40
and $150 per appliance protectors for the additional 0.2% protection
might do something useful.

But then the IEEE says what a properly earthed 'whole house'
protector does:
Still, a 99.5% protection level will reduce the incidence of direct strokes
from one stroke per 30 years ... to one stroke per 6000 years ...

Why spend $60 per appliance for a plug-in protector once the
effective solution is installed? The 'whole house' protector is
required to even protect plug-in protectors. But that would not reap
obscene profits for the less responsible companies that only sell the
ineffective protector. So myths are promoted. Discussion of earth
ground avoided. Insult posted by the usual nay sayers.

The informed homeowner installed a ‘whole house’ protector for about
$1 per protected appliance. Then may spend tens of times more money
for a plug-in protector to add the maybe 0.2% additional protection so
that the surge maybe once every 6000 years might be further
constrained. Plug-in protectors without a ‘whole house’ protector do
not even claim to provide the necessary protection. But companies
such as Monster must forget that. A $3 power strip with some ten cent
protector parts and expensive paint selling for $150. Profit is its
real purpose.