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#1
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Surge protectors with full warranty?
EPPack wrote:
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! http://apc.com/products/family/index...178&tab=models -- Winerr 012 - Cash Underflow - Credit Card Number Will Be Assimilated |
#2
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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. "EPPack" wrote in message ... 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! |
#3
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Try looking into Belkin Surge Protectors.
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#4
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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. -- __________________________________________________ __________ ** Share with others. Post replies in the newsgroup. ** If present, remove all "-nix" from my email address. __________________________________________________ __________ |
#5
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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. Vanguard wrote: 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. |
#6
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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/ins...ts/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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