w_tom wrote in message ...
Electricians (and that wiring inspection) are for human
safety. You have a transistor safety problem. Code does not
address transistor safety. For transistor safety, that
earthing system must exceed what is required by code - which
is why so many electricians don't understand nor need to
understand important concepts such as single point earth
ground.

For example, all incoming utilities must enter at same
location - the service entrance - for transistor safety. Code
that is written for human safety makes no such demand.
All incoming utilites do enter at one location on my house.

All incoming utility wires must make a less than 10 foot
connection to central earth ground. Of three AC mains wires
entering, only one typically has that connection. Other two
must make that less than 10 foot connection using a 'whole
house' protector - again which code does not require.

Home Depot sells effective 'whole house' protectors. But
the GE model I saw in Lowes was undersized and overpriced.
I went to the local Home Depot this weekend but they didn't carry any
(or the sales Dude didn't know any better). Can you suggest any
current brands/models that they should carry so I can have them search
for the model numbers? Their web site doesn't seem to list any
either.

Cable TV and satellite dish wire must also connect less
than 10 foot to that same central earth ground used by AC
electric and phone. No surge protector is required for CATV
since the earth ground connection is made by a direct
hardwire. Surge protectors are only for earth ground
connections when utility wire cannot be directly hardwired to
earth (ie AC electric and phone wires).
Yes, our CATV is also grounded to the same earth ground.

More about earthing was discussed in two discussions in the
newsgroup misc.rural. Even earthing of utility's transformer
is part of a home's surge protection 'system':
http://tinyurl.com/ghgv http://tinyurl.com/ghgm

Also a short list of alternative 'whole house' protectors
for AC electric - the source of most destructive surges:
http://members.home.net/kapland/surge.htm
http://www.dale-electric.com/ditek.htm
http://www.deltala.com/prod01.htm
http://www.deltala.com/prod02.htm
http://www.ditekcorp.com/dispInfo.cfm?ID=280
http://www.ditekcorp.com/dispinfo.cfm?id=579
http://www.ditekcorp.com/dispfamily.cfm?id=3
http://www.ch.cutler-hammer.com/surg...ucts/chsp.html
http://members.tripod.com/~StorminPr.../index-31.html
http://www.nooutage.com/LightningSurgeProt.htm
from www.squared.com is
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z1B7539A1
http://www.leaintl.com/pdf/HSPCCutsheet.pdf
http://www.mimcv.com/residential.html
http://www.leaintl.com/pdf/MsaCutsheet.pdf
...
Thanks for the detailed response and the links. I will definately
check them out.

Assuming I have my earth grounding checked out and get a whole house
protection system installed, can I get rid of the local MOV-based
surge suppressors which, presumably, didn't do me any good to begin
with. (I have some 3000 joule rated ones bought at Lowe's for about
$40.) Or, is there some benefit to keeping these connected? What
about the theory that they might help in increasing the life of
circuit board components by eliminating the hundreds of small surges
occurring throughout the day which may be taking their toll on
electronic components?

Also, most of these surge suppressors offer some sort of lifetime
equipment damage warranty. Wonder if anyone has actually won a claim
from them? I've heard that this is mostly a scam since it would be
next to impossible to verify. For example, how can you really prove
that the damaged equipment was really plugged into the suppressor at
the time of damage? If it was easy, it would also be easy to fake it
and blame the surge suppressor to get the equipment replaced free of
cost. One of the requirements on the one from Lowe's is that the
surge suppressor also be damaged along with the equipment it is
"protecting". Now, it's interesting that two of my power adaptors
(for laptops) were zapped out of service but the Radio Shack surge
suppressors were still working (at least the light was still on).
Could be that the MOV's were made ineffective but power was still
being let through.

--Rob