Quote:
Originally Posted by rsmurano
I worked for multiple gas/electric utilities for over 30 years and the best surge protection to have is outside the house at the meter. If you get a surge protector installed in your electrical box, you already went thru the meter thru your buss and then your surge protector will control it.
I’ve had these units installed by the utility company in my last 8 houses for over 40 years. The utility company offers insurance against damage. You are susceptible to incoming surges thru your copper cables for your Ethernet but if you have fiber, you’re ok.
Electric companies want you to use them because that’s where they make their money. If you use these electricians surge devices and they go bad, you have to rehire them to put a new 1 in plus the cost of the surge device. Whereas, if the utility surge protector goes bad, it’s on a lease and they will come out and replace it for no charge (check with your utility on that).
I had a neighbor that had multiple appliances (all with the newer technology for touch buttons/glass touch panels) that went bad multiple times because of surges which happened every week. I told him to get the utility surge protector at the meter and never had another issue in the following 2 years we were there.
I’ll pay the utility $6 a month for its surge devices forever for this protection
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It pains me to say that your post is mostly incorrect. I know you have experience working in the industry and are trying to help but, as an electrical engineer, we have visited the company that makes the MitiGator that Seco is using and fully understand it's internal circuitry, it's pro's and con's.
This surge protector is designed to block and or manage very large surges coming from the power utility and as such, the warranty doesn't cover any device, appliance, etc, with an electronic chip installed which in todays world covers about everything. There has been a lot of discussion here on TOTV about this fact. It's internal design is slightly different than what is in the Eaton Ultra or the PSP Vortex which are meant to be installed at your circuit breaker panel and does cover every device and appliance even if it has an electronic chip. It's secondary to your homeowners insurance but insurance nevertheless.
While the MitiGator is an excellent and a needed surge protector, as one of the engineers in the Villages Lightning Study group, we are aware of a significant number of cases where Villagers had significant device damage or destruction from an induced lightning power surge with only the MitiGator at the meter installed and only a few with minor impact using both the MitiGator installed at the meter and the Eaton Ultra or the PSP surge protectors installed at the circuit breaker panel as a result of an induced power surge from a lightning event.
Surge protection is a layered approach. Depending on how the power surge is coupled to your home either from the power feed from the utility or from you pool and spa equipment or any other point of your home's electrical system, the goal is for these surge protectors to block or reduce the surge down enough so your Type-3 protectors such as power strips, plugs, etc, at your sensitive electronic equipment such as TVs, computers, modem, etc. can block the remaining surge and protect your homes devices.
As far as surge protectors going "bad", all surge protection devices will only be able to absorb a specific number of surges and this varies with the intensity and number of events. Generally, as long as the lights on the protector are still ON, you will be protected. In the event it does need replacing, the labor cost should be minimal since the surge protector is covered, you don't need new circuit breakers and all that needs to be done is the old protector removed and the new one installed in the same location. Generally, the surge protector at the meter and at your circuit breaker panel should last a very long time unless you are subjected to a lot of large surges.