On Fri, 27 Sep 2013 18:51:19 -0400, Metspitzer
wrote:

Most of us have more devices than we have plugs in the wall, which is
why you'll likely find a surge protector behind most people's
televisions and under our desks. However, not all surge protectors are
alike, and some even put your gadgets at risk. We talked to an
electrician to sort out how to tell the good ones from the bad ones,
and how to use them safely.

Charles Ravenscraft (yes, that's Lifehacker writer Eric Ravenscraft's
brother) is a licensed union electrician,

Why would an electrician be any kind of expert on surge protection?
Maybe he is, maybe he's full of crap.

My vote is for crap, not just for him but for the whole bloody
nonsense about surge protectors. It's a giant industry to protect you
from something that basically none of you have to worry about.

There was a guy in my computer club many years ago who worked for one
of the main companies that built surge protectors. He said it's all
nonsense as far as anyone really needing them. The transient spikes
are damped out in just a few feet of house wiring, I think he said 6
feet. So unless you have really crappy wiring in your house with bad
grounds and such and the outlet your computer is plugged into is the
same outlet as your 40 year old refrigerator uses that draws 20 amps
to start and dims the lights then repeats 6 times before finally
starting, you are chasing a mirage. About the only thing you might
need to worry about is lightening striking but if it does your little
surge strip isn't going to protect anything anyway.

I've been buying the cheapest power strips I can find for 30 years and
have never had a problem with a power "surge" and I leave my system on
24/7. I did have lightening strike once and it blew the **** out of a
radio and computer and clock, fried a couple breakers, etc. No surge
protector would have stopped that motha.