# Surge protector recomendations?



## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Hey guys can any off you recommend a whole house surge protector. I have been holding off for the last few months to install one but last night a surge took out my brand new $1600 samsung lcd and my B&W subwoofer.


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## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

I recommend that you get a whole house surge suppressor. Preferably two days ago.

I've put a few in, but it's been a while since the last one. I don't think there's a heck of a lot of difference in quality, as long as you check the guarantee thoroughly. Look for one that offers $20K+ of replacement value if it fails. :thumbsup:


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Tinstaafl said:


> I recommend that you get a whole house surge suppressor. Preferably two days ago.
> 
> I've put a few in, but it's been a while since the last one. I don't think there's a heck of a lot of difference in quality, as long as you check the guarantee thoroughly. Look for one that offers $20K+ of replacement value if it fails. :thumbsup:


where was you 2 days ago man :thumbsup:


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## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

:laughing:


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

well i got my self a 

Leviton 51120-1 120/240 Volt Panel Protector, 4-Mode Protection, Light Commercial/Residential Grade, In NEMA 1 Enclosure

Features: 50kA Max. surge current L-N (8 x 20 microsecond wave) 120/240V panel protector 4-mode protection Light commercial/residential grade 500V UL 1449 Rating L-N 


I have no idea if this is any good but i will soon find out.


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## TxElectrician (May 21, 2008)

the cutler hammer chsp ultra seems to be a good, decent priced model. About that warranty...most, if not all will only warranty up to the $ amount of you HO insurance deductable.

Stil, for best protection,l you should have a whole house ss and surge strips at each location where you are plugging in electronics.


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## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

BCConstruction said:


> I have no idea if this is any good but i will soon find out.


The ironic thing about it is that you probably _won't_ find out, if it does its job as advertised. You'll have no way of knowing whether your gear would have fried if it wasn't there.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Tinstaafl said:


> The ironic thing about it is that you probably _won't_ find out, if it does its job as advertised. You'll have no way of knowing whether your gear would have fried if it wasn't there.


I know for sure it aint there now. insurance company are being out of line. making me run around like a fool looking for someone to fix them and telling me they wont cover the full amount to replace them if they cant be fixed.


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

Was it perchance a lighting strike?


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Thats what they are trying to point the blame at. i told them it was a surge because all my surge protectors on the stuff i had them on tripped and i had to reset the whole lot. i should find out in the next few hours if they will cover it or not.


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

I've never actually seen anything damaged by a "surge", although I've seen tonnes of stuff damaged by lightening. Typically you end up replacing your garage door opener, modem, router etc.


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## GettingBy (Aug 19, 2010)

FL and the Ozarks are the worst places for lightning strikes, and if you e-mail one of their power companies they may tell you the specs on the protector they install so you can compare those numbers to what you bought.

I do remember the design lifetime for the FL one was 10 years and I think most of the cost of any protector goes into the insurance coverage in case the protector gets overwhelmed.

You can check VA's hazard rating on these maps.
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=isokeraunic+map&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
I've never had and still don't have a protector, and have never lost anything in NJ, TX and MD.

If you live in a development with identical houses, half having protectors and half not, over several years you could determine in a statistical sense to some level of confidence if having a protector has made a difference. I've never seen a study on this, though.


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## Muzzy100 (May 12, 2011)

Steddi watt offers a very nice product for protection. they have various models for different applications, single phase 3 phase.. whatever you want. has a 25000 dollar insurance policy


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## Tiger (Nov 21, 2007)

A whole house surge suppressor as well as proper grounding can help with surge protection. I have additional ground rods, a whole house surge suppressor, another surge suppressor on the family room subpanel, and high quality plug-in surge suppressors for the TV & Mac. The Mac is double covered and the TV is triple covered.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Well I'm still having fun with the insurance company. i went out and bought a TV last night because of it taking so long. But after installing i found out that i also have no signal from my amp, no signal from my PS3, Toshiba TV in bedroom now does some strange stuff and small amp/DVD player in bedroom now no longer plays dvd's and a rc battery i had on charge has melted connectors now 

What makes me even more mad is my next door neighbor had every thing electrical go down that had a microchip in it. one day later truck pulls up and she has brand new appliances, TV's, stereo ect ect and I'm having trouble with one TV and a sub. She's with state farm though. If Allstate cant sort out a cheap tv and sub quickly then i hate to think what it would be like if my house burnt down.


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## TxElectrician (May 21, 2008)

If you had that much damage you may want to have your electrician come by and check things out. I have seen some pretty wierd stuff happen due to lightning strikes.

One of the worst was about 75% of the romex in the house split down the middle, where the ground wire is, like someone had scored it with a knife.


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## GettingBy (Aug 19, 2010)

BCConstruction said:


> Well I'm still having fun with the insurance company. i went out and bought a TV last night because of it taking so long. But after installing i found out that i also have no signal from my amp, no signal from my PS3, Toshiba TV in bedroom now does some strange stuff and small amp/DVD player in bedroom now no longer plays dvd's and a rc battery i had on charge has melted connectors now
> 
> What makes me even more mad is my next door neighbor had every thing electrical go down that had a microchip in it. one day later truck pulls up and she has brand new appliances, TV's, stereo ect ect and I'm having trouble with one TV and a sub. She's with state farm though. If Allstate cant sort out a cheap tv and sub quickly then i hate to think what it would be like if my house burnt down.


Bring back vacuum tubes! 

I still have my Vacuum Tube VoltMeter and it still works. . .sort of. . .


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## TimNJ (Sep 7, 2005)

Inner10 said:


> I've never actually seen anything damaged by a "surge", although I've seen tonnes of stuff damaged by lightening. Typically you end up replacing your garage door opener, modem, router etc.


Probably going back about 25 years now the transformer on the pole at my mom's house went bad. Surge cooked all the tv's, clock radio's and ballasts in the flourescent lights(?). The power company came out and changed the transformer and sent a rep to take inventory on what was cooked. They made good on all of it.


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## TimNJ (Sep 7, 2005)

BCConstruction said:


> If Allstate cant sort out a cheap tv and sub quickly then i hate to think what it would be like if my house burnt down.



:thumbdownIf you have Allstate you might want to read through this site www.allstateinsurancesucks.com


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## Tiger (Nov 21, 2007)

BCConstruction said:


> Well I'm still having fun with the insurance company. i went out and bought a TV last night because of it taking so long. But after installing i found out that i also have no signal from my amp, no signal from my PS3, Toshiba TV in bedroom now does some strange stuff and small amp/DVD player in bedroom now no longer plays dvd's and a rc battery i had on charge has melted connectors now
> 
> What makes me even more mad is my next door neighbor had every thing electrical go down that had a microchip in it. one day later truck pulls up and she has brand new appliances, TV's, stereo ect ect and I'm having trouble with one TV and a sub. She's with state farm though. If Allstate cant sort out a cheap tv and sub quickly then i hate to think what it would be like if my house burnt down.


I talked with a guy that had his house burn down & they lost everything but what they were wearing. He questioned every fire recovery contractor about their own homeowner's insurance. Every one of them had State Farm. They also said that some other insurance companies were so bad they wouldn't have taken his project. Your story isn't the first I've heard about Allstate.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Well im still no further with allstate. But after going out and replaceing the TV with my own cash i later found out my $1200 amp was fried, my $1500 sub was fried, so was my PS3, Second bedroom tv, Amp/dvd player combo, and a few small bits here and there. so in all im at about $5k worth of damage. With no sign of being compensated in sight. Tv repair company called me and said TV was not economical to repair and advised on not repairing tv as they are unsure of the extent of the damage. The main supply board was done but any further than that it was hard to tell. The cost of picking up TV, diagnostic charge, and repair is at about $1000:blink: and allstate said repair it even though they advised not to. 

I will find out tommorow what the deal is hopefully.


The best thing was yesterday i finished installing all the surge protectors. about 4 hours later and power goes out again. hear a massive bang and look out my back window and transformer is exploding into flames about 60ft high. Some of my surge protectors tripped and as of yet all seems fine.


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## TxElectrician (May 21, 2008)

Document the dates and everything that is happening. You may be able to get the POCO to reimburse you for your damages if this is was not caused by storms.


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