JoeinPA,
I used to have a whole house surge protector. Worked great for 20 years or so, then the power company decided they were pulling them out.
riogrande5761 Looks like the repair costs for the command station is very close to the costs of buying a new one. Bummer.
Looks like the repair costs for the command station is very close to the costs of buying a new one. Bummer.
In this case, yes, within $20 or so (my new Power Pro CS box only - no power supply, no hand controller - cost was $220), but that was the most expensive repair you can have, more or less, on a Power Pro. More typical repairs would come in considerably short of this.
And I can report that the repaired Power Pro showed up in today's mail.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
mlehmanI used to have a whole house surge protector. Worked great for 20 years or so, then the power company decided they were pulling them out.
Mike
What was the reason the power company decided to pull them out?
Joe
This occurred when they came around to install new "smart" meters for some reason. They just pulled it, said it was mine to keep since I'd paid for it, but they were no longer allowing them despite the fact they sold it to me.
It plugged into the incoming power underneath the meter itself, which plugged in on top of it. Never had an issue with it and it made for a neat, clean install.
I'm sure I could probably get something to install on the customer side of the supply, but it wouldn't be cheap.
If it was connected in front of the meter, that explains it, if more than a basic transiet supressor, it probably also had some noise filtering as well, as the Tripp-Lite surge supressors I use at my workbench have. This would interfere with the over the wire transmission of the smart meter. Installed on the customer side of the meter, it should be fine.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Randy
Thanks for the explanation. My electrician has suggested that I have one installed at the breaker box.
Joe,
Let us know how that goes, rough cost, etc. It's something we should look into here, because it's a capability I came to rely on (keeping in mind some events aren't entirely preventable.)
We put them directly above the house distribution breaker panel. In some of the larger custom houses (or the one wired for filmmaking) which had multiple main breakers you could put it in the line to that; if there are different service voltages than the 'usual' three-wire 240 plus ground into the breaker panel you're best off with a separate one for each.
Upon reflection the better way to provide "whole house" surge is to divide the service boxes below the main breaker and put the 'electronic grade' or UPS whole house protection on a branch that has no motors or heavy intermittent loads -- no HVAC or boosters, no laundry equipment, no refrigerators. Our smart houses were wired that way, with distinctive outlet colors for the 'protected' branches.
(If you use UPS be VERY mindful of islanding concerns. In my experience many domestic electricians are ignorant of some of the concerns that arise...)
Guys
Thanks for all the info on whole house surge protectors. It will be a while until I am able to have one installed due to upcoming surgery and some other issues. When I do do it I'll let you know.
Best wishes on the surgery and a good recovery, Joe.
mlehman Best wishes on the surgery and a good recovery, Joe. Thanks Mike Joe
Thanks Mike