Seco Surge Protector?
 

We just bought a new house and Seco inquired whether I wanted a Surge Protector they attach to the meter.

Anybody have one of these, are they a good idea?

I come from a state we never really worried about lightning strikes to much

Thanks

I don't have one. In my opinion, it is a waste of money. Also, in most cases, it won't protect your house from lightning. It is an electrical surge protector, not a lightning protector.

We have one, the house next-door had a close in lightning strike, it did $7000 in damage, ours had no damage. Think the lightning hit a sign pole at the back of their yard, this was about 150 feet from our house. I will mention the comcast cable failed about 18 months later and in discussion with the tech, he stated that failure may have been due to the strike.
IMHO, these are effective for the close in strikes, they will do nothing for a direct strike. Also, these will not protect EXTERNAL wiring, landscape lights, pool controls, and other wiring that goes outside the house.

Here is what the SECO warranty says about lightning:

"Under no circumstances will MTI guarantee performance due to a lightning strike not carried down the utility power lines and through the utility transformer and then the SPD to the residence."

Sure. If the strike does not travel through the protector then it cannot provide protection.

You will never know if the device works, only if it doesn’t. VT’s experience makes me glad I have one.

Apparently, the lightning must also travel through the nearest transformer, which probably already has a surge protector.

Here is a detailed discussion from last year when a house in DeLuna was struck. https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...rge+protection

If I may be allowed to paraphrase JRef, then lightning protection is a phased approach. Use all of them. The best is to get lightning rods. He recommends (strongly) using a certified installer & he supplies contact names.
Next up is a whole house surge protector as in the Eaton, installed by electricians at the breaker box. Next is point of use surge protectors at your electronics, computers, TVs, unfortunately most appliances nowadays have a electronic panel, ie: fridge, washer, dryer, microwave, garage door opener, etc. so all of them. Finally the SECO surge mitigator. If you have the financial resources to do all at once, then that is the answer. Otherwise, proceed as you can. Keeping the ultimate goal in mind.
The reasons are: the lightning rods protect your house & your life. The cost is the highest, several thousand dollars. But the likelihood of getting hit is relatively low. The risk is unimaginably high.
The whole house surge protector protects your major appliances. Cost moderate, & likelihood of surges greater. Risk: pretty high if you lose AC, fridge, etc.
The point of use surge protectors may help. No use in a big surge. But many tiny surges may be why your TVs, etc. just stop working someday. Worthwhile.
Seco surge mitigator helps with surges from SECOs power, but the likelihood of getting hit is in the 20% range.
JRef, please correct, amend, add on. Thank you as always.

The electrical code now requires surge protection in new homes that is intended to protect surges induced into the house wiring by a nearby lightening strike or generated inside the home. The Villages is installing this via a "Class 2" device that looks like a circuit breaker in your panel. So you may one of these all ready but the warranty is very limited.

There is an Eaton "Class 2" protector that has much higher protection capacity than the circuit breaker like device. On paper, the warranty looks much better. It that can be installed by companies like Pikes electric for about the same price as the SECO protector

[https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...ricing-350976/

The SECO device is 'Class 1" designed to protect from surges on the power line, the warranty excludes most everything in the home.

For maximum protection, it's recommended to use local protectors for expensive devices like garage door openers, fridge, microwave, dishwasher, stove, HVAC, SPA, TV, WIFI, etc.

If you're a belt and suspenders person, you can use any combination or all for more protection.

Incorrect guess...

They do reduce risk from surges induced by lightening into the wiring in your house. Which are the most frequent cause of lightening induced damage and why protection is now required by the electrical code.

We purchased a whole-house protector for our home in Orlando. The company installed it in the main electrical panel in the garage told me the "fuse" (could it be made of epoxy?) was only good for one strike. Most likely the equipment on that circuit would get "zapped" but the rest of the house was protected.

The way he explained it the DUKE energy protector was installed outside of the home (where the meter is) and ONLY protected from lighting coming into the house from the electrical feed from DUKE (like hitting a transformer or coming in on the overhead electrical lines). Those types of strikes are not very common as their equipment is pretty well protected.

He explained that the overwhelming majority of lighting strikes in Florida are related to ground strikes or direct home strikes. The lighting hits a pole, your eave or tree in the backyard, travels down to the ground and radiates out and then "jumps" into your house via an exterior wall outlet, metal pipe, light fixture or switch. Then it goes into your house through that circuit and into the main electrical panel and the surge will then fry all the other lines.

The protector that he installed was the same type Verizon uses on their cell phone towers. He had already installed several.

Not being an electrician or engineer it sounded good to me but I was told by several other companies that the protector from DUKE (with a monthly fee) was basically protecting *their* equipment and really only addressed a small fraction of the usual strikes.

This one is good for one shot---if we take a lightning strike that epoxy block needs to be replaced.

So far so good...

I think ours is outside with the meter? I know SECO is replacing the meters at some point, will we need another when they do that?

The SECO protector stays.

Nope, not one house in The Villages has one.

Can you say Lightening Capital?

Good insurance getting the surge protection device at the meter. It costs $6 a month and if anything happens to it you call the utility. You have it done by an electrician then you call them for a large fee to come out and replace it. In the past I’ve had friends lose heating units and kitchen ranges with the new digital front ends to surges.

Also you need to protect your rg6 cable coming into your house if you have spectrum or xfinity.

Your home electronics are much more likely to be fried from a power surge from a lightning strike a block away than by a direct strike. I consider the SECO surge protector money well spent. (Hey, people pay for termite contracts when we’ve had almost no termite damage here except in one small area, and they pay for electronic surveillance and ADT when we have almost no break-ins.). Note that you should also use better quality surge protectors when connecting your television and computer. The combination is well worth the money.

WE have one cheap insurance, although you still need surge protectors on you electronics.

Surge Protecto/Lightening
 

You are 1/2 right

Here is the deal. There are 2 different threats. 1) Lightning strikes that damage the physical structure of your home 2) Ground lightening that causes surges in the electrical system and can damage anything that's plugged in.

The surge protecter will do nothing for 1), but is designed to mitigate 2). Obviously, nothing is 100%, but I think the surge protector is worth the money. It also comes with a warranty, that if you have a surge that damages something electrical in your house, you can make a claim for reimbursement.

So, Yes I have the surge protector, and also have protectors that I plug into the outlets. Double protected.

I would suggest that you read the SECO warranty online, especially the exclusions clause. It covers almost nothing.

People here are talking like a lightning strike is the only threat. Several years ago in Virginia where we lived, our A/C went out. The repair guy said the condenser capacitor had given out - probably because of small power spikes over the years. He said if there was a thunderstorm to turn the A/C off. I don't know how effective this strategy is but there is another consideration. Back in the 20th century, I was an IT guy. Whole-house surge suppressors were advertised as paying back their cost over several years by stopping short over-voltages and therefore the amount of power your house was using thus saving you a couple of pennies every month.

True, but it still reduces the risk.

The Eaton warranty looks much better. Not sure if they back it up but if installed by someone like Pike, they might help if you need to submit a claim.

Like Chicken Soup, it won’t hurt!

Note that the SECO warranty would not cover the digital panel on a kitchen range because it has a microchip, which is excluded from coverage in the exclusion clause of the warranty. It would also not cover the rg6 cable. It won't even cover regular electrical wiring or a duplex outlet that is damaged by a surge.

I think the warranty was written by a team of Philadelphia lawyers.

Great point
 

I hadn't thought about EXTERNAL wiring. That's a great point. If the ground lightening is picked up by that wiring, the surge protector will not help. Nothing is 100%. I would think lightning striking in your property is far less likely than it striking somewhere along the electrical grid serving your house. I wonder if the power co can tell the difference and not pay on warranty claims for this situation?

One thing I know that works is unplugging things. I am a snowbird. When I leave for the season, I unplug everything I can, including all appliances. So, nothing is 100%, you have to have risk mitigation strategies.

Get it for peace of mind. Buy it with no installation charge and warranty is for 10 years. Then replace it after ten years. Cheaper than renting it from SECO.

Yes! We are in the lightning capital of the world and surges can fry thousands of dollars of electrical appliances like your air conditioner, garage door opener, tv’s, phones, computers, refrigerator…. You get the picture. Not only do I have a whole house protector but I also have surge protectors on everything that plugs in, including in the ceiling in the garage for my opener. The more protection you have the better. And even with all of that there is no guarantee that a strong surge won’t do damage. Welcome to Florida

You summarized it very well. To add, Induced power surges, according to a Levitton study occur approximately 20% from the utility power feed and 80% from everywhere else. The Seco surge protector that they install on your meter basically is designed to stop and or reduce a power surge coming from the utility. How does this happen if the utility has lightning protection and all kinds of grounding? When lightning strikes near your home, the induced EMI pulse can couple to the utilitie's transformer and or lines creating a power surge in your home. It's also possible to get an unintended power surge from work being done on the power system or an accident knocking down a power line, etc.. The surge protection circuitry in this Type-1 device is slightly different than a Type-2 protector that is installed at your circuit breaker panel. The surge protector installed at your circuit breaker panel such as the Eaton Ultra is designed to shunt (stop) and or reduct power surges coming from the power feed from the utility AND the branch circuits connected to the circuit breaker box as well. This is why it's sometimes called a "whole house" protector. It adequately protects your appliances, HVAC and any devices where it's not easy to install a point of use surge protector. This is why the Surge Protector at your meter's warrenty does not cover any device with an electronic chip but the Eaton Ultra does. The point of use surge protectors which are you power strips, power cubes, etc., installed at your TV, computer, and other sensitive devices is your final layer of defense.

What many don't realise is power surges can also come into your home through your cable line and or your irregation system. If you have conventional cable from Xfinity or Spectrum for example, you can purchase a surge protection device that can be installed at the main splitter from Amazon. There are no protectors for the irregation system that I know of. If you have Fiber internet, then there is nothing to worry about becasue they use a non-conductive glass fiber cable coming to you house vs a copper cable.

So as discussed, surge protection is a layerd system. Personally, I would recommend getting the surge protector such as the Eaton Ultra installed by an electrician at your circuit breaker panel first along with making sure your point of use surge protectors are in place. Then when you can, either rent or purchase the Seco surge protector at the meter. For installing the Eaton Ultra call Lenhart Electric since if you mention you read this post they were giving a $100 discount on the install. I understand there might be a wait give the number of people installing this type of surge protection with all the storms we have been having recently.

There was some mention that surge protectors need to be replaced every 5 years. I'm not so sure this is necessary if you have a surge protector from a reputable company such as Eaton, Siemens, Tripp-lite, Belkin and others. As long as the lights on the protector are ON, showing a working state you should be fine as long as you have a layered surge protection system in place. The reason for this is because with a layered system, day-to-day surges that "wear down" the surge protector circuitry will be reduced by all the surge protectors vs your point of use protector handling all the surges.

As a final note, there are many Type-2 surge protection devices in the market that can be installed at your circuit breaker panel. They all work but the cost can vary a lot. The reason why I personally talk about the Eaton Ultra is because I've had a lot of personal experience with this device and the cost is reasonable. It has also been around for many years and has excellent reviews. My personal opinion is I don't believe you are getting significantly more protection with a more expensive Type-2 protector for the extra cost because their specifications are very close. The UL specifications is what you need to go by. You also have to consider if you ever have to collect on the insurance I would believe it's easier to collect from a large company such as Eaton, Siemens and other's vs a small privately owned company. Finally cost is always the final gate when implementing a layered surge protection system in your home. Most people here in the Villages want and will install the most cost effective devices vs being un-protected.

I'm working on reviewing some of the other Type-2 surge protectors such as the PSP Vortex and will get back to everyone interested on this site.

Hope this all helps.

I had lightning strike a tree 10 feet or so from my old house in PA. I tasted the lightning as my main breaker tripped in the house. I also had an Eaton surge protector in the breaker box and it tripped as well.
No damage to anything in my house, but the large chunks of tree that blew off shredded several screens and slightly damaged my grill.
The boom was so loud I was sure it had struck the house

I replaced the Eaton, happily. Eaton is a major electrical parts company. I am very confident they would honor warranties.

I also use APC UPSs (battery backups) for my main TV and Internet router, as well as one for my desktop PC. They allow the devices to stay running after a power loss so you can gracefully turn things off, but they also have great surge protection AND they smooth out the small spikes and drops in the electric line. It is great to still have Internet access during a blackout.
APC is a great company.

Ok Thanks everyone
You sure educated me on this
I am gonna get the whole house protector installed and some point of appliance ones for the receptacles>

Are there ones for the outlets that are not strips?

Thanks

Yes Levitton makes them. https://www.amazon.com/Leviton-5280-...94&sr=8-3&th=1

For your microwave, refrigerator or dishwasher where the recepticle is not in open view you can get this protector since it has a beeper to tell you that it failed in addition to the lights.
Amazon.com

I agree with Village Tinker (Again! Thank you for good information). We also added surge protector electrical outlets on all internal circuits supplying electrical power to major appliances. And, we have lightning rods installed proper to the electrical code. So, SECO external surge protector, internal circuit surge protectors, roof mounted rods per the code. Above was done after consulting with family electrician who knows the trade. Note: neighbor across the street has had two lightning strikes in 20 years, neighbor down the street had their house destroyed (now rebuilt) by a strike. TV is the place for lightning!

There you go!
Thanks for sharing your experience.

We have one and had an indirect lightning strike 3 years ago. Almost all of our electronics were fried. We called SECO and here’s what they told us….’ The surge protector only covers damage to items with motors and compressors’. We were out of luck. And, when they do cover something, they only repair and don’t replace.
We still have ours because we’re concerned that next time we might need the protector. Hmmmmm…..

The reason why you had this experience is because the induced surge didn't come in through the power line so the Seco protector did nothing and will continue to do nothing if the same thing happens again.

Were the red lights on the Seco protector still ON after the strike?

lightning capital of the world
 

Repeated talks and articles report how the geography here, winds from two coasts, create the most thunderstorms and a lightning capital of the world -- two houses damaged just last week. Not only a surge protector but lightning rods are advised -- there is always some house getting damaged from a strike. Use only UL approved supplier like A1 Lightning. Houses with natural gas supply extra need because of gas lines in the attic.

If you want the cadillac of this type of surge protector get this. It has status lights letting you know if its working.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Eaton-Su...9QK8_jOHUtASrE

You can avoid this problem by getting Fiber internet if your area has it.

Not aware of anyone yet running fiber to the house?

Just checked new construction and they ran fiber to the post and coax from the post to the house.

I have lightning Rods, a whole house surge protector, and individual surge protectors for sensitive equipment. I have had damage three separate times. The lightning Rods, have never been contacted that I know. I doubt that any surge has been from my electrical supply lines. What I do know is that my cable line has been zapped twice and my phone line once.

The cable line surge fried the outside line requiring replacement both times. It also damaged the TV Modem requiring replacement. The last incident several years ago was a bright flash outdoors and instantaneous thunder indicating a close encounter. We immediately went outside, and found the ball on top of our flagpole about 40 feet from the house blown off and a slight bulge on the flag pole between sliding sections. we noted jagged muddy lines from the flagpole radiating toward the house and a muddy hole about 3 to 4 feet from the house and a splatter of mud on the house. The hole was where the surge met the cable. Apparently, the pole was the lightning rod. Cable had to be replaced plus some inside comcast equipment. That jagged muddy line change to a fried grass jagged line over the next several days.

Bottom line is that surge can be introduced by any conducting outside source.

I assume you are saying that the transformer doesn't have a surge protector. But, why does the lightning need to travel through a transformer to be covered by the SECO warranty? As I read the warranty, if the lightning strikes the power line between the nearest transformer and your house and travels through the SECO surge protector, there is no warranty coverage. In order to get coverage, the lightning needs to actually travel through a transformer. Why?