whole house surge suppressor protection

[sleepywheel]

I was thinking that with my kitchen appliances, TV's, computers, radios, electronics, etc. that it would be expensive and time consuming to go around buying individual surge suppressors for everything. My parents had a VCR blow out while Hydro was working on the pole outside their house and Hydro says it's not their responsibility. I'd hate to come home to find any of my electronics burned because of a power surge and have no recourse except with house insurance.

The surge suppressors are less than $200 from Home Depot and it's cheap insurance to go along with the inline suppressors I already have. Anyone have experience with whole house surge suppressors? Any recommendations?

[blkgsr]

for what it's worth, Mike Holmes always seems to have them installed when he has his electricians redo panels etc

[Smallermouse]

^Who is Mike Holmes?

[GLOW]

[RenoMan]

Originally Posted by sleepywheel

I was thinking that with my kitchen appliances, TV's, computers, radios, electronics, etc. that it would be expensive and time consuming to go around buying individual surge suppressors for everything. My parents had a VCR blow out while Hydro was working on the pole outside their house and Hydro says it's not their responsibility. I'd hate to come home to find any of my electronics burned because of a power surge and have no recourse except with house insurance.

The surge suppressors are less than $200 from Home Depot and it's cheap insurance to go along with the inline suppressors I already have. Anyone have experience with whole house surge suppressors? Any recommendations?

Its preferred , in the end it gice you a piece of mind if the surge. Only cost a coouple huns . Even if you got insurance it more of a bitch to try and claim after all your loss. Just get it for your panel .
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[jepho]

Originally Posted by blkgsr

for what it's worth, Mike Holmes always seems to have them installed when he has his electricians redo panels etc

like he said. Mike Holmes swears by them. And hes only the Greatest Professional contractor you could ever hope to hire.
Make It Right®

[sleepywheel]

A friend of mine who is a retired electrician says he has a brand new commercial one that he can install for me. He has installed them in a few houses and recommends them, if nothing else, just for peace of mind. If any of my appliances or computers fries, at least I can say I tried to prevent it rather than buying one after the fact.

If Mike Holmes puts them in, that's good enough reason for me.

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by jepho

like he said. Mike Holmes swears by them. And hes only the Greatest Professional contractor you could ever hope to hire.
Make It Right®

That's because he's in Ontario where they get tons of lightning. No real need here. They also don't work that great from what I hear.

[noventa]

better protect your cable lines and phone lines as well. you don't want the surge to sneak up these wires!
it is mostly lightning that causes surges, but when devices fail in transmission lines, a surge could also be create in a power grid.

[sleepywheel]

One of the places I go to on produce row had a cable on the power pole a block away blow out a couple of weeks ago and caused them some grief. Five electric motors blew out and had to be replaced. I don't know if a surge protector would have saved them but something caused the motors to blow either when the line blew or when the hydro boys reconnected the line. So for me, a surge protector is the least I can do. Especially now that the one I've got is free.

noventa, good idea. I've got some UPS units that have the cable and phone line suppressors built in but never bothered to hook them up. Since they're here anyway I might as well use them.

[blue_noise]

if you want to surge protection for electronic, the best way to do it is to pull insulated ground bx. they give you an extra ground wire along with your 2 wire. but make sure you use the orange color recepticle.