On 10/5/2012 12:42 PM, wrote:
On Oct 5, 2:09 pm, wrote:

I prefer to protect individual circuits that have electronic devices
such as computers and TV's. I heard a neighbor had a whole house unit
and when it blew, it took an electrician and half a day to get power back.

If it took an electrician and half a day to get power back,
what do you think would have happened if they instead
relied on plug-in surge protectors for just the TV? A surge
of that magnitude could have wrecked all kinds of stuff
in the house, even that protected by plug-in type.
If it took out a properly installed whole house surge
protecter, then it must have been one hell of a surge,
eg some kind of very close lightning strike.

A whole house surge protector is the first line of
defense against destructive surges, protects everything
in the house, and deals with the surge when it first
enters the house. As recommended by the IEEE,
a tiered protections strategy works best, which
means having sensitive electronics, particularly
those that are connected not only to power but also
to cable, phone lines, etc, protected by additonal
plug-in type protectors. The whole house protector
will deal with any huge surge that comes in via
the power line. The plug-ins will limit the voltage
differential between power and cable, phone, etc.

Nice description - I agree with all of it.
I would only add what is implied - for a plug-in protector connect all
interconnected equipment to the same protector and all external wires
(power, phone, cable, ...) go through the protector.


Eaton is a reputable major manufacturer of electrical
eqpt. Intermatic is another I would recommend. I
would get one rated for at least 20K Amps per phase.
A whole house protector should run $100-150. You
typically need an additional double pole breaker, ~$20,
and as that friend pointed out, if you don't have an empty
slot that will increase the cost. It should take an hour
to install, assuming everything else is in order.

And more good information.
Many of the major electrical manufacturers make service panel
protectors. I would buy only a major name brand.

-------------------------
Excellent information on surges and surge protection is at:
http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_lhm/IEEE_Guide.pdf

The recommended surge current rating for residential is 20,000 - 70,000A
per service wire. For high lightning areas the recommendation is 40,000
- 120,000A.

An investigation of the possible surge on a residential service used a
100,000A strike to the near utility pole with typical urban overhead
distribution. Only 5% of lightning strikes are stronger, and the strike
is about as close as possible, so this is essentially a worst case. The
surge current was 10,000A per service wire. Higher protector ratings are
not for a single event, but give a long life.