[villagetinker]

Originally Posted by Dana1963

I'll wait for the VillageTinkerer to chime in we have one installed on side of the home from SECO.
Unless poster are Electrical Engineers it's blah, blah, blah.

VT here, we have the SECO unit, and when there was a very close in lightning strike, the neighbor suffered around $7000 is damages, we had nothing inside, about 18 months later the cable TV feed failed. The neighbor's damage was almost all outdoor equipment, GFCIs, pool computer, pool pumps, landscape lighting, etc, and I think a few inside the house. We believe the strike was to a pole or sign post about 75 feet from each house.

There is a situation called 'ground potential rise' which occurs during a close in strike, and this can cause the lightning strike surge to be conducted into the house by ANY conductor that leaves the house and is in the vicinity of the strike. The SECO units help with reducing these surges, and individual surge protectors on sensitive electronics provide additional protection.

IMHO, I believe these are useful items, either in the breaker panel or in the meter base.

VERY IMPORTANT, make sure any power strips you but that state "surge protector" are actually UL rated (tested) as SURGE PROTECTORS and not as extensions cords, as I recall the correct UL standard is 1449.