Surge Protectors

[mjkaliszak]

Looking for a whole house surge protector. I have suffered many losses over the years from the power going off & on due to storms in my area. The latest was the well pump + a bunch of smaller items . It seems the local power company can't keep the lines cleared ???? I did hear that square D makes one ? any suggestions ? Input ?

 

[snow_monkey]

My protection circuit is mounted just before the breaker box and it has two neon lights, I would guess 1 for each bar. They glow red when the utility power is on and go off when service is down. This shuts the whole panel down in the event of a lightning strike. It also comes in handy when they light up after power is restored.

 

[doomsman]

not sure a surge protector will do the job,
the restarting under load after short outages is
what does a lot of the damage.
A whole house surge device will cost close to
1/3 the cost of a auto stand by gen set.

 

[wags]

Can you sat ATS! (Automatic Transfer Switch) costly devices depending on the size! I would simply start with shutting off breakers to things with motors, compressors etc.. until the power is restored thats unless your not home. Otherwise invest in a genset with an ATS.

 

[mtb1115]

Several companies make whole house surge arrestors such as Square D and they all work in a similar way basically by sending any over-voltage to ground weather it is from a blown transformer or a lightning strike etc... It is recommended that you also use the plug in strip types for your electronics and also your automatic garage door opener. However for these to work you will need a good ground such as a copper clad steel rod (old pipe driven in ground is not adequate) at the meter and if you have city water with metallic piping, that should be bonded also. Local code and the instructions should be followed for installation and these units run about $ 75.00 bucks. Most brands now have LED lights to let you know that they are in good working order or when you need to replace (only 4 wires) them. Just remember they only protect you from over voltage not low voltage or brown out conditions.

 

[snowbuff]

There are several different types of whole house surge protectors. Some mount outside of the panel, and some go in the panel. In the panel type mount like a two pole breaker. They can have a big price differance too. I have the square D brand that mounts outside the panel. I think it was around $250.00. Being an electrical contractor, my supplier gave me mine for free. It is a good idea, especially if you have a lot of electronics.

 

[frnash]

Quite a few years ago, after losing a multi-function board and modem in my desktop machine, and watching ball lightning careening around the front room in a monsoon thunderstorm(!), I had the local power company install a whole house surge protector — behind the electric meter. It cost me $150.00, as I recall.

 

[mjkaliszak]

I got quoted from the "Trusty" electrician about 500 for the whole house square D that mounts outside the 200 amp panel. I also have an 100 amp generator ( portable generator-honda ) back up panel that runs necessities on all 3 floors, garage door openers, ect... I was wondering is their anything that can protect against " brown outs or low voltage supplies or fluxcuations in current ? It has been proven to me that the constant interruption and " instant on " supply of power to my house has cost me many items & electronic boards in appliances over the years. I have had enough. I did have some in-line protectors on some items ( Brinkman ) comes to mind they were 79-89 bucks. The well pump caught me off guard. 1800 for that. I managed to take out a generator about 4 years ago. The only item that I do not have enough generator power for is the A/C compressor so after a day of no A/C I tried to trick the generator back up system. I shut down just about everything running at the time and manipulated the safety tabs on the 100 amp panel breakers ... then tried to fire up the compressor ( bad idea ) it cooked some obsolete board in the generator and then I was out of all power. Ended up buying a 3500 honda the next day ( #$&%@ ). Some day I will break down for a whole house generator but with 2 kids going to college ... it might be a while.

What about the swings in voltage ? Too bad I couldn't go after " Consumers Energy " but I'm convinced their irradic supply and failure to maintain the power lines being clear from the substation is costing me loss of product life and $$$ to repair & replace too many items.

 

[anonomoose]

Sounds like you need to do something. If you keep going with new water pumps and electrical components, you will easily exceed the cost to put an ATS in and a decent standby genset.

These things are getting very reliable and cheaper to buy and install.

Sell that Honda during the next ice storm, and put that toward the standby and put the rest on your credit card and spread out the cost.

Besides the obvious peace of mind it will give you during outages, it will also save you abunch in burnt up equipment.

 

[snoeatr]

Square D does make a 240 volt single phase surge arrestor for residential services. They run about $45. You also need a 2-pole 20amp breaker for whatever panel you have. I have installed several and mount them to a j-box along side of the panel. The price installed with all material is $100. They work well on voltage spikes and aren't very expensive. I buy them from my local supply house.