I thought that is what the breaker box is for?

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I thought that is what the breaker box is for?

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Um, no. Not even close.

Yeah, I think I paid about $450 3 years ago. I wish I had done it when we moved into the house. We had a transformer get struck by lightning and our house took the brunt of the after-effects. We lost two AC unit control boards (1 year apart), 2 thermostats, 2 cable company boxes, and man, I have lost track of what else. We had surge protectors on everything too...

Anyway, bad luck, but after that, we put in the whole house surge protector and no new issues since then.

You can spend as much or as little as you want to depending on the level of protection you want. Joslyn makes some small units that are a few hundred bucks or so, plus the labor to install. Grainger has this one. Whatever unit you go with, make sure it is UL 1449 listed - that ensures it is an actual surge suppressor device.

A nice option to have is a status indicator. Surge suppressors are like bubble wrap. The "bubbles" are devices called MOV's that take the hit and die. Eventually, you can have all your bubbles popped and no longer have any protection. If you really want to get fancy, some of them have counters that will tell you how many times you've taken a hit that the device caught.

The same idea goes for the strip type that you stick behind an entertainment center. If it is doing its job, eventually it will have to be replaced to avoid losing protection.

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I thought that is what the breaker box is for?

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The circuit breakers in your panel protect the branch circuit wiring that runs all thru your house from short circuits and faults. It will stop overcurrent (plugging three welders into your kitchen and then starting the microwave), but won't help when you get a lightning strike or other surge and the power coming into your house jumps from 120/240 volts to 687 volts. The surge suppressor provides a way to dissipate that energy so it won't el blammo your stuff. Like bubble wrap.

You can also get point of use surge suppressors to put at each appliance. Some friends had lightning strike their house. It rode the copper refrigerant piping that went to the upstairs AC unit and then spread. Even if they'd had a SS, it would have been bypassed.

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The same idea goes for the strip type that you stick behind an entertainment center. If it is doing its job, eventually it will have to be replaced to avoid losing protection.

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So what would you say the maximum years someone should keep a surge protector?

Another question, what are the plugs that have the test and reset buttons?

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Another question, what are the plugs that have the test and reset buttons?

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GFI - ground fault interrupter
GFI's are required by the electrical code for receptacles in bathrooms, some kitchen receptacles, some outside receptacles, and receptacles near swimming pools. The horror story scenarios which led to these code requirements are things like dropping a hair dryer or a portable radio into a bathtub with a person, causing electrocution. A typical circuit breaker interrupts the ciruit at 20 amperes, but it takes only about 100 milliamperes to electrocute a person in such a scenario. The GFI is designed to detect currents of a few milliamperes and trip a breaker at the receptacle or at the breaker panel to remove the shock hazard.

The GFI has a "Test" button which causes a small difference between "hot" and neutral currents to test the device. In an example given by John de Armond, the test button put the 120 volt supply across a 14.75 K resistor, producing a current of 8.2 mA. The UL requirement for a GFI is that it trip when there is 5 mA of leakage current. There is also a reset button to use after it has been tripped.

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Yeah, I think I paid about $450 3 years ago. I wish I had done it when we moved into the house.

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Do you mind me asking who installed it for you? I'm looking at one of the Eaton units (will have to find the model #), as they seem to be a reliable brand.

edit: found my notes...
http://www.eaton.com/Electrical/USA/ProductsandServices/PowerQualityandMonitoring/InnovativeTechnologyTVSS/index.htm
Protector or Residential where the choices I had it narrowed down to.

The other was this...
http://www.eaton.com/Electrical/USA/ProductsandServices/Residential/SurgeProtection/WholeHome/index.htm

[This message has been edited by pnut02 (edited 7/21/2011 8:13a).]

Maybe a dumb question but I'll ask anyway...If you install a hole home surge protector like that would there be a need to use surge protectors on your delicate equipment such as TV's, Computers, Stereos, etc. Or would you still want a back up?

Makes sense, and I agree that they should probably still be used. My reason for asking is because my wife will use the laptop any where around the house and plug it into whatever outlet is nearby. But she has the habit of leaving it plugged in at that location over night and I have a fear of it getting fried should we have a surge. I dont want to have surge protectors littered around the house.