Primary Surge Protector - Electric & Cable
 

Who is the best company to install a Primary Surge Protector for both the electric and also for cable?

Also, what is the estimated cost?

Thanks
Gary7

SECO just did my house. You have two options:
1. You can buy the surge protection system for $350.
2. You can lease it, at $5 per month.

Six years in the break even point if you decide to buy it, and it is guaranteed for 12 years.

Thanks.

Does this cover the cable also?

I heard there is a second device that protects cable.

Pike Electric is showing up tomorrow to install a whole house primary surge protector at the panel. My understanding is the SECO unit is at the meter and offers protection to that point. In addition to the whole house protector I will still use secondary surge protection at the outlets. This mirrors what I had in PA and it worked very well. I have Bright House and since the router is plugged into the surge protection system my only concern is if something happens through the cable and again, as I understand it, they have the responsibility for that protection. I talked to both an electrician and the cable guy about routing the cable through the surge protector and both said it would degrade the picture. Being the expert I am (I have swamp land if you believe that) I chose the whole house and secondary surge protection and will take the risk with the cable. Next investigation will be lightning rods.

Yesterday, SECO showed up to install my whole house surge protection at the meter after lighting took out my ethernet connection (both outside and at the port of my desktop tower) as well as my motherboard. They also provided at site surge protectors (plug ins) for use with such items as computers and TV's.

SECO charges $350 to buy or $6/mo to lease.

What's the difference between what Pike is going to do and what SECO does? Is one bette than the other? How much is PIKE? What's the difference between at the Meter and/or at the Panel?
Thank you.

If you know how to change a circuit breaker in your main panel, you can get a whole house surge protector at Lowes/ Home Depot for under $100.00.
all you doe is buy one compatible with your brand of panel--remove two knocks outs , plug it in and hook up the white wire to the neutral bar--Less than 10 minutes work. comes with an insurance policy for surge damage.

Electrical Surge Protection
 

If you know how to change a circuit breaker in your main panel, you can get a whole house surge protector at Lowes/ Home Depot for under $100.00.
all you doe is buy one compatible with your brand of panel--remove two knocks outs , plug it in and hook up the white wire to the neutral bar--Less than 10 minutes work. comes with an insurance policy for surge damage.

Pike's charge is 300.00. I purchase my own secondary protectors. Neither the SECO or Panel protection will protect against a lightning strike....they all have an upper limit on surge protection. I get it done at the panel since I'm not interested in what happens to SECO's meter but am on the inside wiring. As I said earlier, I'm not an expert but had this arrangement in PA and it served me well.

I just had SECO install their system, comes with an insurance package, as well as 4 surge protectors to be used in the house, one of these is for the home entertainment system, and includes cable protection. There is another one for telephone, and another just for electrical. They also include a socket tester.

SECO's protection is upstream of the service panel. This will protect your panel...another installed at the panel won't hurt either.

I agree. Very simple to install if you are use to electrical work. If not, stay out of that panel !

SECO did ours. We have whole house for $6/mo with a $25 install fee. They also gave us 3 indoor surge suppressors and an outlet checker.

They give you three surge protectors plus an outlet checker and it will protect cable, phone lines and electronic equipment like televisions and computers.

Don't count on SECO to help after a lightning strike. I have the same whole house and individual surge suppressors which my sprinkler controller was plugged into. After a storm my controller was dead and I put in a claim with SECO. They sent someone out to my house to pick up my surge suppressor that was used on that outlet and replaced it with a new one. About 2 weeks later I was told my claim was denied since the surge suppressor was still working and the surge probably came in through the water line or the sensor on the roof which is suppose to limit watering if rain is detected. I was told that many claims for refrigators are denied because they said the surge came into the line feeding the icemaker.

Interesting that they claim the surge came in the PLASTIC water line, also interesting that their website specifically lists refrigerators. as covered items. The SECO logic does not hold up, the system will not protect for a direct strike (no argument) however, it is supposed to protect for a nearby strike, so how did a nearby strike get to the rain sensor (irrigation sensor), or the water supply line (refrigerator) when this is all in plastic pipe????

It's the water that is the conductor. As a matter of fact, it's a very good conductor.

Pure H2O is not a conductor. The minerals within it conduct.

$6/month for me as well on the lease with a $25 installation fee from SECO.

SECO here, may not cover everthing but is better than what came with the house, which was nothing. :icon_wink:

If you have a SECO surge protector (also know as a ring or meter-based arrestor) on your meter it is intended to protect only surges that originate with SECO or lightning surges that come through the electrical feed into your home. However, this is not the only way a lightning induced surge can enter your home. Lightning can enter via cable TV, satellite TV, telephone lines, water lines, and can even be induced into your home by the electromagnetic field of even a nearby strike. Therefore, you need secondary surge protection (also known as point-of-use or plug ins). SECO gives you a starter kit but in most cases you will need to purchase other surge protectors for all of your valuable and sensitive electronics. In many cases homeowners fail to protect their TVs and computers because they don't run the coaxial cable and telephone lines through a surge protector.

You can protect the irrigation system controller with a surge protection device if the surge comes through the electric lines. However, there is no practical way to protect the wiring from the controller to the external solenoid control valves in your yard and a lightning surge into the ground can fry the controller.

REMEBER LIGHTNING LOVES TECHNOLOGY!

Lightning...How about the type of surge protector that mounts within the electrical panel similar to the way the circuit breakers do? Even though the electrical panel is probably only a couple of feet from the meter, does the panel mounted type give different protection?
Cost aside, is one type better than the other?

A surge protection device (SPD) installed by a licensed electrician is an alternative to the SECO SPD on the meter. It should be located as close as possible to the electric panel to keep the wiring as short as possible with no need for splices and connected to a dedicated breaker. This is not "whole house" protection as you frequently see mentioned on this web site. You still need secondary surge protection as discussed in my earlier post.