"Dorot29701" wrote in message
...
We had to replace several small things like DVDs and VCRs
after one particular
very brief (like momentary) power outage and the
subsequent surge. I am in FL
where this happens often. Now all my small stuff and
computers are on surge
suppressers. I checked with power company and they
recommend whole house surge
suppressers and they will install - but the costs is very
high.

One of my neighbors is an electrician for county and he
said he has a whole
house ss but had someone (private co) install it and it
was cheaper.

It is a neighborhood problem around here.

Dorothy

True, it can really be a problem, esp in the lightning areas
like FL. Whole house protection is good, but, and this is
opinion, so you'll find many different opinions on this,
even with whole house protection, OR instead of, which is
how I think, it is still necessary to have specific
protection on sensitive electronic components such as
computers, computerized sewing machines, etc. In general,
if you can afford the whole house protection, then all you
need is the cheapie suppressors, like Walmart etc. sell, at
each device. If you don't have whole house protection,
however, then you should have something much more reliable
and capable of taking a strong hit. There isn't much of
anything that will save you from a direct lightning hit to
power lines outside your home, but that isn't a very usual
occurrence.
It's hard to describe how "good" a protector should be,
but in general, one wants a 3-way protection, and the higher
the number of "joules" the suppressor can handle, the better
the protection. Some of the good ones even offer equipment
replacement if their products fail to protect you, but ...
like I said, nothing is going to protect against a direct
lightning hit.
Google for "surge protection" +computer (use the quotes)
and you can get lots of info on it and some are good for the
layman to read and figure out how they work.

Pop