Product recommendations for residential appliance protection from Lightning

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dinotone

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Hi. I have a new customer who's "house" (ie. likely vicinity of the house) was hit by lightning for 3rd time in 20 yrs. Each time destroying tvs, computers, hvac systems and host of other typical devices (gfcis etc). So he'd like to optimally protect in the future, without going the full mile of a lightning protection system. ie. Whole house & appliance surge protection. Wealth of knowledge and experience in this forum. Could I get some recommendations?

FYI - I often install Siemens FS140 for whole house and Mars 83905 for hvac protection, and Leviton surge protection receptacles, but I cannot say I'm confident these are the best. I just don't know.

Specifically looking for recommendations on: Whole house, hvac protection, appliance (eg. tv, computer, etc. ) protection. Obvious best answer on the latter is not to plug in, but dont think we can rely on that.

Thank you! Dino

PS. He's been told lightning protection systems don't work. I'm not experienced enough to argue it, but sure seems like there's plenty of companies in that business. Thoughts? I also just signed up for Harger's University course on same.

PSS. Is there additional grounding (ie. to the house grounding electrode system) that would help? Currently house has water & ground rod
 
Whole house is a scam.surge protectors are in parallel with the load. The surge voltage across the wiring is about 20 V per inch for residential, both ground and hot. Motors are good for around 1000-1200 V surges, electronics only a few hundred Volts. So if it is rated to trigger at say 300 V then the line voltage can reach destructive levels in about 18 inches. NEC is requiring surge protection in the main panel to protect the electronics in AFCIs. It does nothing for appliances. If you want that it has to be at the receptacle.
 
Lightning protection is all about protecting the structure and won't do anything to protect the wiring or what is plugged into it.

At my house I put a whole house surge protector at the service, a breaker style surge protector in the inside panel, and my entertainment center and computer are plugged into a ups.
 
One thing I didn't see mentioned was uninterruptable power supplies (UPS). Small UPS's placed on TV's, computers, and other electronics not only will keep the device going in the event of a power outage, but they also act as a large surge protector.

If the lighting strike is very close to the house, nothing really is going to help.
 
paulengr said:
Whole house is a scam.surge protectors are in parallel with the load. The surge voltage across the wiring is about 20 V per inch for residential, both ground and hot. Motors are good for around 1000-1200 V surges, electronics only a few hundred Volts. So if it is rated to trigger at say 300 V then the line voltage can reach destructive levels in about 18 inches. NEC is requiring surge protection in the main panel to protect the electronics in AFCIs. It does nothing for appliances. If you want that it has to be at the receptacle.
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>Whole house is a scam.surge protectors are in parallel with the load
The whole house surge protectors reduce the amount of energy going to the end use surge suppressor, and the protected device (TV, radio, computer).
 
There is a difference between protecting yourself from lightning strikes and from surges.

As a practical matter, there is nothing you can do that will protect you or your system from a direct lightning strike.

Surges are a different matter. You can get some level of protection from them by the judicious use of surge protectors. But you have to understand they are not perfect either, and you also need to understand that these days most electronics are fairly well protected against surges.
 
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