Customer of mine is looking to install a surge protector. He found something on-line that he is interested in. It's supposed to be mounted near the main panel on its own individual breaker. Their claim is that it will protect against surges generated from both outside the house and and from inside (ie refrigerator or AC compressor, etc.) I'm skeptical of this claim. Anyone have an opinion?
surge protector question
- Thread starter ptrgator
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LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
I do. The best protection is cascaded protection. The whole-house unit is best for minimizing surges from the outside world, and it's a good start.
It should be augmented with point-of-use protection near the equipment to be protected, which is best for protection from surges developed within the premises.
Read the connected-equpiment warranty, especially the fine print.
It should be augmented with point-of-use protection near the equipment to be protected, which is best for protection from surges developed within the premises.
Read the connected-equpiment warranty, especially the fine print.
ptrgator, Welcome to the MH forum. Is this unit a secondary surge TVSS hybrid Arrester? The point of entry units are usually L-N as compared to a point of use TVSS but there are so many variations out there it would be wise to Google up a few sites to get comparisons on the technical end. There is a lot of research to do to get what your application needs are best suited to. Check www.sea.siemens.com/STEP/pdfs/surge_2.pdf for a good technical writing on Surge Protection. rbj, Seattle
- Location
- Wisconsin
- Occupation
- PE (Retired) - Power Systems
Yes, the whole house TVSS will handle all of the internal surges (for which it is rated) that make it back to the service panel.
But it may not (probably even will not) actually protect any devices connected on the branch circuit with the surge producing load. It all depends on the layout of the house.
For example; Air conditioner is on a dedicated branch circuit and home computer is on a different branch circuit - TVSS will probably protect the computer against the A/C surge the same as it would against an external surge.
But, if the computer was on the same branch circuit "upstream" from a window A/C unit the TVSS will not help at all
But it may not (probably even will not) actually protect any devices connected on the branch circuit with the surge producing load. It all depends on the layout of the house.
For example; Air conditioner is on a dedicated branch circuit and home computer is on a different branch circuit - TVSS will probably protect the computer against the A/C surge the same as it would against an external surge.
But, if the computer was on the same branch circuit "upstream" from a window A/C unit the TVSS will not help at all
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