Would like to know more about this..??

YES!! Tell us more!!

Please give me some specifics on the surge protectors. I want to protect a 400 AMP electrical box. I will have a media room, computers, etc. Also along your line of work do you know of anybody in the 78130zip code(San Antonio or Austin that I could talk to about solar shingle panels? Thanks Rick TEXAS

Pleaser send info on this

Can someone not get these from the electric company? I rent a trailer home and have power thru a co-op electric provider. Can they supply one at the pole?

Would like more info

Please provide more information.

I haven't heard of this before and feel that it would be a very good idea for any home but especially ours. We have 2 severely handicapped people living here and many diversified electrical demands.

I look forward to information being available by e-mail.

I am intrested in finding out more about "Whole House Surge Protection". Which is the best manufactur, how is it installed for each room? I will be remodeling my home and want to know about everything before I start. Thanks and have a GREAT 4th of July!!!!!!!

We live in a moble home right next to the transformer for the park. We have lived here for three years and have blown more light bulbs in the three years than in the 30 years we lived in the house on the other side of town. I am looking for a way to stop this before it puts us in the poor house.

I just lost the compressor for my air conditioner because of a power surge from the power company. It was only 2 years old and cost me $1,300.

Yes, I would be very interested. We lost our vrcs a few years back after a storm.

We live in a remote area with lots of power outages. Would this whole house surge protector be beneficial in power outages? The power outages are hard on all the electronics in the appliances.
Thanks.

I recently had my kitchen remodeled and I have all new appliances that are very electronic so I am looking for the best way to protect them. I asked the electrician that actually did the kitchen wiring, and he said there was nothing that would really protect. Is that true?

Would definately be interested in this topic. Please share more.

tell me more

Yes, tell us more.

the idea sounds could you tell me more

Can a whole house surge protector be retro-fit, or is it only possible with new construction?

My understanding is, you can install one at anytime. I had one installed at my condo about two years because I was experiencing random power surges - now I have peace of mind. It was worth the time and money. My electrician had suggested it, then he purchased it and did the installation installation for me. The only thing to note is that IF it trips off, you have to have an electrician back to install a new one - but still a small price to pay.

Please forward info

A whole house surge supressor, aka TVSS (Transient Voltage Surge Supressor) is one of the best investments you can make regarding power and safety in your house, in my opinion. The one I used in my house as well as my clients' is by Leviton, model #5110-ptc. http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=22336&minisite=10028
These devises are good for protecting your house, appliances, and occupants from large voltage spikes and the 51110 also has jacks for CATV and TEL. However, Leviton does recommend using additional power conditioning localized at sensitive equipment: power strips at computers and line conditioners at AV equipment. TVSS' will not help during full outages (black-outs) or brown-outs (Brown-outs are especially harmful to electronic equipment and appliances). My guess is that a TVSS can be installed as a retrofit.

I agree with Alan - A whole-house suppressor is an important part of a strategy to protect equipment from electrical transients. These can be line surges from the power supplier, but they can also be transients created within the home system by switching on and off heavy loads, and most damaging transients are lightning induced. Most suppressor manufacturers and engineers experienced in this subject recommend a distributed approach, with whole-house suppression and individual devices protecting sensitive equipment. The individual devices can provide protection for signal lines such as cable and telephone connections in addition to the power connection. Finally, very sensitive equipment such as computers may be best protected by an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), which provides continuous power and avoids a reset during short outages, but executes a controlled shutdown of the computing device if an outage last more than a few minutes. Most UPS devices incorporate surge suppression, and there are many inexpensive UPS devices available today. When buying surge suppression and UPS devices, the standard I am most familiar with is UL TVSS 1449, although the Leviton suppression panels list a different UL standard number, which may have to do with the power handling capability. Most point application devices are, or should be, UL 1449.

I would definitely be interested...could we please have more info!!!

I installed one about 15 years ago and have never regretted the peace of mind it generates.

As the power company voltage varies from 110 to 135 in my area it seemed best to install a surge protector to keep the power stream level. My light bulbs are lasting longer and I have less fear of loss on my other electronic appliances.

We live in a double wide mobil home, please send more info on this. Thank you

We are putting in a modular home and this could be very beneficial. Can you please send me the info of where to purchase or order? Thanks for always bringing us up to date on the latest.David

I would like more information.

A quick Google will reveal a lot of info and sources. Good ole' copy and paste!

Florida Power & Light offers this protection on a fee basis. I imagine that it would be cheaper to purchase and install if one intends to remain in the property for any length of time. Do you know whether other power companies offer this servilce, which is a profit center for them?

Clallam County Public Utilities District (PUD) offers it's customers a point-of-entry (meter based) surge protection. Read more at the following link
http://www.clallampud.net/sitepro/uploads/Final%20Surge%20Protector%20Press%20Release%201-19-07%20PDF.pdf

Note that they indicate that "most" surges originate inside the residence, and there is a waver of liability for purchasers to sign. The information is interesting and there is an available product (cost is about $300). for new construction (retrofits are possible for old construction) panel manufacturers like Square D offer unit that install next to the main panel.

Personally, I do not get the warm fuzzies that these are of any value. Please do your homework.

We had a whole house surge protector that we got from our electric company. We began to have problems with our phone. The phone company told us the surge protector had messed up our lines. We contacted the power company telling them we had disconnected the surge protector and please come get it. A few weeks later the power company announced they were doing away with the surge protectors because they were interferring with telephone lines.

We recently had a transformer in our neighborhood blow not just once but twice in a week's time. Both times, it resulted in a large power surge, and it blew out several light bulbs in addition to our microwave/convection oven and our dishwasher. Other people in the neighborhood lost their refrigerator or their AC. All in all, very expensive and irritating. So, I'm definitely sold on whole house surge protection. However, when I read about whole house surge protectors, it seems like the minimum clamping voltage for these products is 330 Volts. Can someone with expertise in eletric work comment on how sufficient this clamping voltage is in protecting the electronic components in your house? I understand that nothing is foolproof, but how sufficient is this clamping voltage. Also, my understanding is that though a whole house surge protector will help limit surges from outside the home (blown transformer, lightning hit), it does not help with surges from within the home (AC turning off and on, turning off and on a hair dryer for example).

Thanks for people's expertise!

If you want a great best practices guide for surge protection of home appliances go to:

http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/practiceguides/surgesfnl.pdf

This is a Free PDF from NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). The description is:

Surges Happen by Francois Martzloff (SP 960-6, NIST).
This booklet has been prepared to help home dwellers, owners, contractors, insurance agents and all parties interested in reducing the number of cases and severity of equipment damage caused by the unavoidable surges that occur in the electrical systems.

It contains a great deal of information at a completely accessible level. There is a whole section for contractors, a FAQ list and a list of links. This document has been written by an expert in the field of surge protection and reviewed by experts in manufacturing, testing, applying and using surge protection.

These products are available from retailers.. google search will bring up dozens. We've had them installed on our current house and the one we previously owned (after lightning struck the transformer nearest our house). It protects big ticket items such as refrigerators and air conditioning systems as well as sensitive electronics like computers and televisions. Just be sure to have it put in by a full-fledged licensed electrician. The system pays for itself if it heads off even one power surge.

Good article Mr. Gatton. It's been 8 years since I asked an electrician about whole house surge protection, but, at the time, was told they are too sensative. I assume that

Mr. Gatton:

Good article. I wonder what you think about whole house ground fault interrupters? About 8 years ago I asked an electrician about installing one and was told they were too sensitive. Is this still a problem?

Tim

I am in the office equip. business. I see every day the damages that surges do. Last week after a terrible storm.I lost my whyole house surge protector, 6-wall surge protectors and a garage door opener., But I saved 2-plasma TV's,a month old new computer and my home theater system.Nuff said and don't buy $8-10 strip surge protectors
they are fancy extension cords.

Can you please tell me where I can purchase one?

The companies that I am familiare with that market whole house surge protectors are:

Ditek
http://www.ditekcorp.com/product-subcategory2.asp?ProdCatID=17

Levition
http://www.levitonproducts.com/catalog/dept_id_117.htm?pid=1208&utm_source=GGL&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=leviton+surge&utm_content=UPS+Backup&utm_campaign=Leviton

and APC
http://www.apcc.com/products/category.cfm?id=12&subid=23

Most of these are sold through electrical contractors. They should only be installed by an electrician.

One more:
Panamax
http://www.panamax.com/products.cfm?group=12&sec=detail&id=16&ly=h

We have whole house protection thru our electric co-op. The kicker is we lost a router in the last storm and it wasn't covered because we had it plugged in to a UPS, not one of the designated surge protection devices. Only a $100 item but could have been worse. Learned from that mistake. Now I'm plugging everything in to the surge protectors provided by the power company.

folks there is a piece of equipment that surpasses the whole house surge protecter and goe two benifits better. the equipment is called a whole house capacitor based power conditioner. this equipment will protect your whole house or busines from power surges, conditons the current to remove all electomagnetic and radio freqency interference,and to boot saves you up to 25% on your total elctric bill! This means that you can plug your computer or appliances in any outlet you want and it will be surge protected period. no need for extra surge protectors and extra wiring .installation is the same as a whole house surge protector. anyone with minamal handyman skills can put one in, but should be installed by qualified electrician for insurance purposes. this equipment can be ordered through me at hondo434@cs.com.allyou need to install is a circuit breaker box with space for a 20 amp two-pole circuit breaker . unit mounts right next to circuitbox and connects with just 3 wires. has 5 yr warranty and is engineered to last up to 20 years.unit costs only 315.00 plus 10 for shipping in us only.if interested email me with contact info and i can give more info if desired.don cumming

Progress Energy offers meter based surge protection in the Carolinas for 5.95/month and one time charge of ~$45 to install.

what about when there is a brown out will protect .

"what about when there is a brown out will protect ."
No, you might want to look into a whole house UPS or a generator if you experience a lot of brownouts.

Conflict of interest by SKL July 26, 2007 above. I'll accept line conditioning a good idea but claiming energy savings bogus. Nothing the size of a double breaker is going to manage thousands of watts. $315 is a lot of money for an empty plastic box. I say take the ad down until SKL demonstates there's something there.