Are mains surge protectors needed in the UK?

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 15:47:28 +0100, Lem wrote:


snip


Am I being too complacent?

I've never used one. I've never had a surge blow anything either. My
next door neigbour as one for her PC, but makes SFA difference. Of
course in our house the fuse box has one of those quick trip over
fueses where even if a light bulb blows you have to reset the trip
switch, but even then its only ever the light bulb circuit that trips.

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 16:10:40 +0100, Bagpuss
wrote:

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 15:47:28 +0100, Lem wrote:


snip


Am I being too complacent?

I've never used one. I've never had a surge blow anything either. My
next door neigbour as one for her PC, but makes SFA difference. Of
course in our house the fuse box has one of those quick trip over
fueses where even if a light bulb blows you have to reset the trip
switch, but even then its only ever the light bulb circuit that trips.

We are the same with regard to the fuse box tripping out.

I do have surge protectors on my PC equipment. For an extra few quid
it seemed a good safety measure.

Chances of a power surge are probably 5000 to 1. But wouldnt you feel
silly if you were that 5000th person?

At then end of the day its your call. Do you feel lucky? Just how many
thunderstorms are we having compared with last year, and the year
before?

cheers

from "The Harbinger of Doom"
)

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 16:27:15 +0100, Harry wrote:

I do have surge protectors on my PC equipment. For an extra few quid
it seemed a good safety measure.

me too; I repair/change internal fuses in my surge protectors at least
once a year; the last time was 2weeks ago. it was so damn close
lightening hit, that my PC wake up from suspend, alarm sounded from
PCprobe, all voltages were screwed & protection shut down the machine
(even if was on surge protector!); TV shut off (recently mounted a
surge protector on it) ; real BigBANG ...

Computer first did not wanted to start few minutes & also TV few times
....later !!!! (but survived). not connected outside TV antenna preAmp
survived, but not its PSU even it was on surge protector-it got a hit
thru coax cable & practically blown inside some soldered stuff (was
some repairing next morning!)

my surge protectors payed off many many times . ..

12y ago I encountered a close lighting hit from a CLEAR sky (hardly to
believe if you do not experience that, I know). no surge protectors at
that time & had 100$ material costs to repair things in my home,
mainly TV set ! ....
--
Regards, SPAJKY ®
& visit my site @ http://www.spajky.vze.com
"Tualatin OC-ed / BX-Slot1 / inaudible setup!"
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On Fri, 09 Jul 2004 04:17:13 +0200, Spajky wrote:

the last time was 2weeks ago. it was so damn close
lightening hit, that my PC wake up from suspend, alarm sounded from
PCprobe, all voltages were screwed & protection shut down the machine
(even if was on surge protector!);
real BigBANG ...

Computer first did not wanted to start few minutes ...

Now after 2 weeks yesterday consequences started to show - damaged PC,
delayed manifestation , serious problems :-( damn! I spent whole
evening repairing my MoBo again ! ... I´m back onLine again! :-)

IMHO, w/o that surge protector, now wouldn´t be anything to repair ...
Hope it will last now (knock on wood) ... this is my experience ...
--
Regards, SPAJKY ®
& visit my site @ http://www.spajky.vze.com
"Tualatin OC-ed / BX-Slot1 / inaudible setup!"
E-mail AntiSpam: remove ##

On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 03:37:02 +0200, Spajky wrote:

On Fri, 09 Jul 2004 04:17:13 +0200, Spajky wrote:

the last time was 2weeks ago. it was so damn close
lightening hit, ...

Now after 2 weeks yesterday consequences started to show - damaged PC,

****, still ocasional (heat) problems after MoBo repair :-( ; have to
localize again the fault before my machine dies permanently & I stay
w/o it .... damn lightning strike .. :-( damn damn damn ...
--
Regards, SPAJKY ®
& visit my site @ http://www.spajky.vze.com
"Tualatin OC-ed / BX-Slot1 / inaudible setup!"
E-mail AntiSpam: remove ##

Harry wrote:

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 16:10:40 +0100, Bagpuss
wrote:

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 15:47:28 +0100, Lem wrote:


snip


Am I being too complacent?

I've never used one. I've never had a surge blow anything either. My

I have, and a couple of friends too. We have a flaky power supply round
here and usually have about half a dozen power cuts each winter but we
had a strange one last winter; for several seconds before the power went
off there were big voltage fluctuations. When the power came back I had
a dead PS/2 port on one machine and two friends both had dead PSUs. I've
now got all my kit plugged into and 8-way trailing socket with surge
protector.

next door neigbour as one for her PC, but makes SFA difference. Of
course in our house the fuse box has one of those quick trip over
fueses where even if a light bulb blows you have to reset the trip
switch, but even then its only ever the light bulb circuit that trips.

We are the same with regard to the fuse box tripping out.


The solution to that is to replace the type B MCBs with type C on the
lighting circuit. I did and have not had a problem with nuisance
tripping since.

"Harry" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 16:10:40 +0100, Bagpuss
wrote:

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 15:47:28 +0100, Lem wrote:


snip


Am I being too complacent?

I've never used one. I've never had a surge blow anything either. My
next door neigbour as one for her PC, but makes SFA difference. Of
course in our house the fuse box has one of those quick trip over
fueses where even if a light bulb blows you have to reset the trip
switch, but even then its only ever the light bulb circuit that trips.

We are the same with regard to the fuse box tripping out.

I do have surge protectors on my PC equipment. For an extra few quid
it seemed a good safety measure.

Chances of a power surge are probably 5000 to 1. But wouldnt you feel
silly if you were that 5000th person?

At then end of the day its your call. Do you feel lucky? Just how many
thunderstorms are we having compared with last year, and the year
before?

Hi Harry!

Where are you located? UK? Australia?

Hope you don't have as many thunder/lightning storms as we do here in Tampa,
Florida in the good old US of A.

It's like constant artillery fire around here.

"Lem" wrote in message
...
Are surge protectors on the main power supply actually needed in
the UK?

here in the UK we have few overhead mains power lines and have a
relatively steady mains power supply when compared to many other
countries (including the US).

However there seem to be very many surge protector products
advertised for sale in the UK (Argos, Maplins, etc).

I am quite sure it is not bad practice to use a surge protector but
in fact I have never known anyone who has has a problem from a
surge coming in through the power supply.

So personally I don't bother using a surge protector on my PC.

Am I being too complacent?

Do you live in an area where lightning is frequent? A lightning strike that
is merely _near_ to an underground utility circuit can induce damaging
voltages into them meaning that your power mains, telephone, and cable TV
are all possible carriers. Admittedly there is no place in the UK that I've
heard of that experiences the sort of storms that ravage parts of the USA,
Flordia comes immediately to mind, but if you ever do have even one event
then a small investment in protection would be invaluable.
--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

"John McGaw" wrote in message
.. .
"Lem" wrote in message
...
Are surge protectors on the main power supply actually needed in
the UK?

here in the UK we have few overhead mains power lines and have a
relatively steady mains power supply when compared to many other
countries (including the US).

However there seem to be very many surge protector products
advertised for sale in the UK (Argos, Maplins, etc).

I am quite sure it is not bad practice to use a surge protector but
in fact I have never known anyone who has has a problem from a
surge coming in through the power supply.

So personally I don't bother using a surge protector on my PC.

Am I being too complacent?


Yes.

I have seen damage caused by a current surge and a friend of mine has had a
machine totalled by a surge following a nearby lightning strike that shot up
his phone line, in through the modem and spaltted his mobo to hell and gone.

I also read the results of a survey a couple or three years ago that claimed
78% of all data loss in the UK was caused by unprotected machines suffering
power surges. I have always used a protector and never had a problem. If a
computer is plugged into a domestic ring main, it is subject to all sorts of
fluctuations, from kettles, central heating, wall mounted dildos etc etc.

It isn't as common as newbies screwing the mobo directly to the case
baseplate (I have actually seen that too) but it is worth avoiding for a
tenner at the local computer fair for a 6 gang protector.

Strange lad.
--
I do not consider it an insult, but rather a
compliment to be called an agnostic.
I do not pretend to know where
many ignorant men are sure --
that is all that agnosticism means.
Clarence Darrow

Strange Lad wrote:


a friend of mine has had a machine totalled by a surge following a
nearby lightning strike that shot up his phone line, in through the
modem and spaltted his mobo to hell and gone.



I thought BT master sockets, NTE5s, have a built in lightning arrestor?
Maybe they don't, or he has an old type?

Parish