Paul Hutchings wrote:

I need to get a couple of mains blocks. I can get 4-way Belkin ones with
surge protection (F9H400uk1M) for about ｣5.50 which is about a quid more
than a normal block costs down the local B&Q.

Chepest option is to DIY:

e.g. a 69p Spike suppressor from Maplin is all you need to match most
"spike suppressor" mains blocks.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...ID =&doy=3m10

or http://tinyurl.com/6djg6

I'm no electrician, part of me looks at the wave of ｣30+ surge protectors
out there and thinks they're designed to look pretty and scare people out
of their money, on the other hand I've had enough people bring their home
PCs to me at work because their PCI modem's stopped working after a recent
thunderstorm to think for the sake of a quid more on a mains block I might
as well.

Modems tend to get killed by spikes on the phone wire rather than the
mains. You could try a couple of the above suppressors between each
exchange wire and a ground point on your incoming telephone line.

Anyway, looking around the belkin site there's all kinds of joule and
amperage and db ratings and I'm curious what it all means?

Just an indication of the amount of energy that the suppressor can shunt
before turning its toes up. In theory the bigger the better.

It's be nice if any explanations could be "plain english", and not turn
into a "whole house protection" argument as seems to happen on every thread
I've seen on google!

In plain english: spike supression for the computers is not going to do
that much for you, although at 69p a pop you may as well do it. If you
want any real protection then get a UPS. Never tried proctecting a
phone line, so not sure how effective it will be.

--
Cheers,

John.

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