Surge protectors with full warranty?

  • Thread starter Thread starter EPPack
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EPPack

Looking to purchase a surge protector that not only fully warranties the
connected equipment (that is, will fully replace damaged equipment at no
cost to me) but will also replace the SP itself if it gets damaged during a
surge. I'm looking for something for home use, not professional, (i.e.,
relatively inexpensive, under $50 if possible) with perhaps 6-8 outlets plus
modem protection. While there are plenty that will warranty the connected
equipment, the only one I know of that will also replace the SP itself if it
gets fried is the Kensington Masterpiece series. Are there others?

We had a nearby lightning strike over the w/e and my Newpoint 1620 joules SP
gave its all. My equipment is safe, but I now have to purchase another SP
and just trying to save some future bucks :)

Thanks!
 
EPPack said:
Looking to purchase a surge protector that not only fully warranties
the connected equipment (that is, will fully replace damaged
equipment at no cost to me) but will also replace the SP itself if it
gets damaged during a surge. I'm looking for something for home use,
not professional, (i.e., relatively inexpensive, under $50 if
possible) with perhaps 6-8 outlets plus modem protection. While there
are plenty that will warranty the connected equipment, the only one I
know of that will also replace the SP itself if it gets fried is the
Kensington Masterpiece series. Are there others?

We had a nearby lightning strike over the w/e and my Newpoint 1620
joules SP gave its all. My equipment is safe, but I now have to
purchase another SP and just trying to save some future bucks :)

Thanks!
Click to expand...

http://apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=178&tab=models
 
Surge protector is not surge protection. Don't let those urban myths
confuse you into thinking protector and protection are same. Those
same myth purveryors will hype big buck surge protectors as
protection. Surge protection is earth ground. Surge protectors are
but simple science. Surge protection is the art. The most critical
component of a surge protection 'system' - central earth ground.

Right off - if the surge protector does not make a dedicated
connection to central earth ground OR if it fails to mention critical
earthing, then it is claiming protection from surges that don't
typically exist. Better to not tell the 'whole truth' when selling
ineffective and grossly overpriced plug-in surge protectors. They
forget to mention many things - including that the protector was so
undersized as to be damaged by a surge not sufficient to overwhelm
existing internal protection in adjacent equipment.

Surge protector quit before surge did. Good thing that adjacent
equipment has internal protection - as most every appliance does.

Minimally effective 'whole house' protector can be purchased from
Home Depot as Intermatic EG240RC or IG1240RC OR Siemens QSA2020.
Idea to earth a surge so that surge cannot overwhelm appliance's
existing protection. For about the same price as those overhyped,
undersized plug-in protectors (such as that APC recommendation), you
can instead protect everything in the house. What protects that
dishwasher, microwave oven, clock radio, dimmer switch, GFCI human
safety outlets, etc. Furthermore, unlike that other recommendation,
'whole house' protectors do provide common mode protection - the surge
that acutally does the damage.

Lets do cost. Put a $15 or $50 surge protector on every household
appliance. Maybe $2000. Or install the one less than $50 'whole
house' protector for less than $1 per protected appliance. Plug-in
protectors can cost tens of times more money per appliance.

Again, what do ineffective, overpriced, undersized surge protectors
fear you might learn about? Central earth ground. Surge protectors
are not surge protection. Surge protectors are only effective when
they connect a surge to surge protection - as even Ben Franklin
demonstrated with lightning rods in 1752. Surge protection is the
single point earth ground. Typically you would not have a single
point ground if you house has not been wired to post 1990 NEC
requirements - just another fine point that plug-in protectors must
forget to mention to make their highly profitable sale.

No surge protector does anything effective without that all so
critical central earth ground. What does lightning seek? Earth
ground. Does it find earth destrutively inside your house or is it
earthed before lightning ever enters the house?

A surge protector is only as effective as its earth ground - same as
lightning rod which also diverts a surge to earth. Idea is quite
simple. Both lightning rod or 'whole house' protector divert the
destructive surge to earth. Otherwise the surge will find many
destructive paths to earth ground inside the building - such as
through your computer.

'Whole house' protectors are so inexpensive and so effective that
even your phone line probably has one installed free by the telco
inside that premise interface box. Correct. Phone lines typically
have 'whole house' protectors installed free. Just another fact that
those plug-in protectors must forget to mention to sell their
ineffective and overpriced product.

This is the sentence to remember - a surge protector is only as
effective as its earth ground. Plug-in protectors have no such
dedicated connection. No earth ground means no effective protection.

BTW, at 1620 joules, that Newport was undersized - as demonstrated
by damage. No acceptable surge protector is destroyed by one surge.
In your case, a surge was sufficient to damage an undersized surge
protector but not overwhelm protection that already exists in an
adjacent equipment. The Newport did not stop, block, filter, or absorb
the surge. Surge confronted Newport and other equipment equally.
Just another little fact that shunt mode surge protector would rather
you did not know - along with the most critical component of any surge
protection 'system' - central earth ground.
 
Okay, so instead of telling consumers what are bad suggestions, how
about sharing your wealth of information and telling them what are good
products. What *retail* products are commonly available which are
easily installed by *consumers* that meet your personal criteria
regarding surge protection? Oh, and you cannot suggest solutions that
are outside the typical home users budget (since, after all, you were
equating $50 surge protectors with your unnamed solution). Nor can you
suggest a solution that requires the extra cost and time of getting an
electrician to install the surge arrestors.

You make a lot of brouhaha over getting whole home or point-of-entry
surge protection (i.e., surge arrestors) that could be installed (by an
electrician) which are outside the realm of most homeowners to install
themselves and may not be possible at all, like when living in
apartments or multihome dwellings since you don't own the property. Yet
you provide no insights on what would be appropriate (according to you)
for point-of-use surge protection devices (which typically get called
surge protectors).

Rather than just spew naysays, how about proffering some recommended,
budget minded, consumer installable suggestions.
 
Home Depot is the only retail store seen with effective
'whole house' protectors. Intermatic EG240RC or IG1240RC, or
Siemens QSA2020 that can be installed by the homeowner. I am
only reposting solutions from an earlier thread - posted same
day.

Spend $15 or $50 per appliance for ineffective plug-in
protectors - as demonstrated by the grossly undersized
Newpoint device, or buy protector posted earlier that probably
costs less than $1 per protected appliance AND that is
properly sized to not need replacement.

Which do you want - easy plug-in protectors that don't even
claim to protect from destructive surges and that are grossly
undersized, OR effective protection? Life is so hard. These
decisions are so difficult. I can only provide facts.
Plug-in protectors don't even claim to protect from
destructive surges. Protection, so well proven since the
1930s, use 'whole house' protector. You must make that so
difficult decision. Its not my job to decide for you. Posted
previously were the facts - and why that Newpoint SP failed
unacceptably and so catastrophically.
 
Yes, it is *possible* to use surge arrestors at your watt meter or
breaker box. But this is not something the average home owner can do;
see http://www.intermatic.com/images/instruction_sheets/IG1240R.pdf for
instructions on installing your recommended Intermatic IG1240 unit.
They'll end up calling an electrician, so add that cost into the cost
for the surge arrestor. Also, this is a doable solution only if you
actually own the home in which your reside. If not, like when living in
a rented house or apartment complex, you don't get to make modifications
to someone else's property. So obviously there is a reason and need for
the point-of-use surge protectors. Yeah, they rake in as much money as
consumers are willing to pay. That applies to everything you buy. You
want as much money as you can earn, too.

The problem with most surge protector or protection devices is that
you'll have to spend more money if you want one that can actually
indicate if it will still protect your circuit. If it gives no
indication of status, you won't know if it is fried or not so you
haven't a clue if you are protected or not. Having a green LED is nice
but who periodically visits their breaker box to check that the surge
arrestor is working? Smoke detectors would be pretty useless if all
they did was illuminate a green LED to indicate they detected a fire.
Seems a surge arrestor should have an audible alert so it actually
alerts someone that it no longer protects against surges. The other
problem with lightning strikes is that I've seen a MOV that ended up
with a carbon track so basically the device got altered to have a
high-resistance always-there path; in that case, it affected telephone
service depending on how far away the effective line length was for a
local call. And surge protection doesn't protect against sags and
brownouts (which end up with your equipment drawing in more current to
offset the lower voltage and can burnout equipment or [internal] snap
fuses).

If you want your computer protected, get a UPS. I prefer a true UPS
(where the output power is generated) rather than a standby unit (that
kicks in within a few milliseconds and presumes your computer's power
supply capacitor won't drain before that). My true UPS also uses an
isolating transformer (which is why it is very heavy at 60 pounds for
the transformer and 60 pounds for the 2 batteries); your power is
generated and independent of what noise, surges, sags, or other crap is
on the input line. I also like to get a true sinusoidal output UPS
rather than the stepped output. But in a home-use environment, a true
UPS true sinusoidal with isolating transformer UPS is a lot more
expensive and can exceed that value of the gear that it protects. I see
nothing wrong in getting a cheaper $50 to $200 UPS because it's more
protection than not having one.
 
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