On Tuesday, October 8, 2013 10:08:42 AM UTC-4, bud-- wrote:
The NIST surge guide, written by someone who has researched surges and
surge protection (with many published papers), suggests that most
equipment damage is from high voltage between power and cable/phone/...
wiring. A service panel protector does not, by itself, limit that
damage.

Telephone and cable already have properly earthed protection required by code and installed for free. bud did not even know about a telco 'installed for free' 'whole house' protector until I described it. He even tried to denied it existed.

Telephone and cable wires already have 'whole house' protection (when properly installed). But AC electric does not. A properly earthed 'whole house' protector means every incoming wire should have protection defined by the Guide as necessary. So that 8000 volts need not find earth ground destructively via a plug-in protector and TV2 - page 33 figure 8.

Protection was always about connecting that current to earth so that hundreds of thousands of joules are not hunting for earth destructively via appliances. Only solution always implemented in any facility that cannot have damage.

So what happens to a 35 joule surge? So tiny that the power supply converts that to electricity that powers electronics. 35 joule surges are hyped as destructive to sell grossly undersized protectors. Sales scams promote protection from near zero (35 joules) surges for $25 or $80 per appliance. Protectors that completely ignore another type of surge (ie hundreds of thousands of joules) that occurs infrequently (maybe once every seven years).. And that overwhelms existing protection inside appliances.

Informed homeowners properly earth one 'whole house' protector (ie at least 50,000 amps) so that destructive surges do turn power strip protectors into a potential house fire. So that existing protection inside appliances is not overwhelmed. So that wires that typically have no protection (AC electric) are no longer the incoming surge path to all household appliances.

bud's favorite guru even said why plug-in protectors can make damage "occur even when or perhaps because, surge protective devices are present at the point of connection of appliances." His exact words in his IEEE paper describing damage due to protectors too close to appliances and too far from earth ground. As also demonstrated on page 33 figure 8.

Informed homeowners spend less money to protect everything - by earthing one 'whole house' protector. Then existing 'whole house' protection on telephone, satellite, and cable wires is not bypassed. Then high voltage does not exist between power and cable/phone wiring. Did he again forget to mention existing protection on cable/phone wiring as required by code?

What is a most common path of destruction when a 'whole house' protector is not installed? A direct lightning strike far down the street is incoming to every appliance on AC mains. The outgoing path is via cable/phone wiring because that already has 'whole house' protection. The high voltage exists because a 'whole house' protector on AC mains did not earth that current BEFORE it could enter the building. That destructive and high voltage does not exist when earthed BEFORE entering the building. Facilities that cannot have damage always implement the 'whole house' solution.