[Trayderjoe]

I would look at the issue of surge protection as an insurance policy, and the level of protection would be commensurate with your risk tolerance level.

Let me preface this was a little story. I was a member of the Health, Safety, and Environmental Affairs division of a major chemical company, and electrical safety was part of our training program. I did some research after hearing the local power company advertise whole house surge protection on the radio, of which I was unaware at the time, talking with several of our electrical engineers. The short (pun intended) of it is I developed a safety presentation for my client base in which we recommended that people consider adding it to their homes.

Remember, as was stated in an earlier post, NO electrical surge protection will protect you from a direct strike on your home. Also keep in mind that the whole home surge protection system on your electrical panel potentially has a gap, in that ground strikes near your home can enter your home through your utility lines, such as cable service lines.

I have subsequently had installed whole home surge protection on each home I have owned. You can choose to buy or rent the unit, but whichever way you go, be sure to get a surge indicator on the unit so that you can see if a surge occurred. You may need a qualified electrician to subsequently check your system to ensure that you are still protected. I supplemented the panel surge suppressor with heavy duty surge protector power strips on each equipment with connectivity to cable service. These power strips have input/output coaxial cable connectors. The coaxial cable from the wall connects on the input side, then a separate coaxial cable runs from the output side to the electronic equipment I am seeking to protect. Lastly, I had surge suppression electrical outlets installed for my two garage door opener motors.

I am not suggesting anyone do what I did for my home. The level of, or lack thereof, surge suppression is again a personal risk assessment you need to make.

Consider the replacement costs should your electronic devices get versus the costs for protection. I would not however, dismiss electrical surge out of hand.