Doug White wrote in
:

My wife is a big fan of the "Holmes on Homes" show (which is actually
pretty good). They go around fixing messes previous contractors have
made of house construction/renovation jobs. They regularly install
whole house surge arrestors on the breaker panels when they re-wire a
place.

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

I've got a query in to see if it will fit in just any old meter
housing, and how it compares with some of their breaker panel add-ons.
Other than having to deal with the electric company to replace the
seal on the meter housing, this thing looks like a snap (literally) to
install. The cost of the suppressor is about the same for either
approach, but the electrician should be able to install the meter
version in considerably less than half the time.

I finally got an installation manual from Leviton for the the meter
housing unit. It is only rated fror 200 amps IF it is installed in a
specific Murray housing. I went out and checked, and our housing isn't a
Murray. I also studied my meter, and it is one of the new electronic
remote read units. It fills up inside of the clear cover much more than
an old fashioned meter, and I doubt it would work with the Leviton even
if we had the right housing.

So, I'm back to finding a good unit to attach to the breaker panel. It's
too bad, because the earth ground has a more direct connection to the
meter box than to the breaker panel.

Doug White