On Saturday, October 24, 2015 at 12:32:37 PM UTC-4, trader_4 wrote:
BS. The IEEE guide clearly says so.

trader_4 has no idea what it says. He takes sentences out of context. Many completely different surges are summarized. One that is tiny (typically cause no damage) is connected on a safety ground back to the breaker box. A completely different and destructive transient is why a connection must be to earth AND must be low impedance. Why do so many professionals require that low impedance connection if safety ground wires are sufficient? Because trader_4 misreads. He intentionally ignores some paragraphs to lie.

Multiple Martzloff papers, the AT&T forum, IEEE Red and Emerald Books, and .... how many other professional sources were cited? He ignored them all. Why do we know he is lying? Where does he even cite one specification number? He doesn't. Like an extremist politician, he only makes subjective declarations - with disparaging commentary.

He intentionally ignores these from his own citations:
An effective, low-impedance ground path is critical
for the successful operation of an SPD. High surge
currents impinging on a power distribution system
having a relatively high grounding resistance can
create enormous ground potential rises, resulting in
damage. Therefore, an evaluation of the service
entrance grounding system at the time of the SPD
installation is very important.

SPD is his surge protection device. trader_4 knows he can ignore that requirement.

Safety ground is not earth ground. Wire impedance is excessive. From his own citation:
To achieve optimum overvoltage protection, the
connecting leads between the SPDs and the panel or
protected equipment should be as short as possible
and without sharp 90-degree bends. ...
The inductance of the wire is the determining factor
rather than the resistance of the wire. The inductance
is a function of the length and the loop area of the
circuit including the SPD.

That inductance obviously creates a high impedance meanning a plug-in protector is all but disconnected from what harmelessly absorbs a surge. Or return to numbers posted eariler. trader_4 know honesty need not provides numbers.

A wall receptacle safety ground will magically earth a tiny 100 amp surge? That wire is less than 0.2 ohms resistance. And maybe 120 ohms impedance. 100 amps times 120 ohms is 12,000 volts. That receptacle (and protector and adjacent appliances) are at less than 12,000 volts. Where is the protection?

How ironic. Figure 8 page 33 shows similar. Because impedance on a safety ground wire is excessive, then a protector could not connect to earth as trader_4 claims. It earths a surge through a nearby TV - 8000 volts destructively. Which one would expect when that 120 ohms impedance exists. Those damning numbers again.

He also ignored this:
One of the main functions of the service entrance SPD is
to reduce the surge current reaching any downstream
protectors

Of course ... for many reasons. That downstream (plug-in, point of connection) protector is not designed for a type of surge that typically causes damage. Again, trader_4 has no idea of relevant concepts such as longitudinal and transverse currents. He does not even try to demonstrate basic electrical knowledge.

That downstream protector must somehow only absorb hundreds of joules. And then another problem often seen when a 'whole house' protector is not reducing currents reaching downstream protectors ... fire. Another problem that trader_4 repeatedly denied.

More sentences he ignores:
These large currents can only be dealt with by a
direct connection to the building or power panel
ground. The NEC/CEC are very explicit in requiring
this connection, and it has been required for
many years.

More ignored sentences:
There are three requirements of the service entrance
SPD. They are as follows:
1) To suppress the larger surges from the outside
environment to levels that would not be damaging to
equipment at the service entrance, or to equipment
(air conditioning, wired-in appliances) directly
connected to the branch circuits.
... HVAC equipment
2) To reduce the surge current to the downstream
SPDs
... to protect plug-in surge protectors
3) To stop the large lightning currents from passing
into the house wiring system and damaging the wiring
or inducing large voltages that would damage
electronic equipment.
... to protect all household appliances from the other and typically destructive surge that plug-in protectors do not protect from.

trader_4 is not honest. He only posted here to attack me. Apparently he does same to others. He cherry picks sentences to distort what professionals say. Clearly does not know how electricity works. He never posts claims with numbers - as any honest person would. He does not even know what impedance is. Somehow a near zero protector that destroy itself is protection.. Even his own citations are quoted saying something completely different - such as:

A very important point to keep in mind is that your
surge protector will work by diverting the surges to
ground. The best surge protection in the world can
be useless if grounding is not done properly.

An engineer who did this stuff has been saying that repeatedly. Why does trader_4 ignore such sentences. Apparently he likes picking cherries.