[village dreamer]

well should I pay the $350 for a seco whole house surge protector. has anyone lost an appliance due to a surge, with a surge protector??

[photo1902]

Originally Posted by village dreamer

well should I pay the $350 for a seco whole house surge protector. has anyone lost an appliance due to a surge, with a surge protector??

We had one installed. Good piece of mind, especially since it should afford some protection for our pool pump, irrigation controller, etc.

[John_W]

With SECO you can also pay a $25 installation fee and then lease the protector for $5.95 a month on your bill. That way if it goes out, you don't own it. The only time I ever lost anything here was my Century Link backup in the garage, lightning burned out the battery, so I lost my internet and telephone for a few hours until CL came out. Ironically they had problems with those backups and CL came about six months ago and removed the backup battery, said they were taking them out of all the homes. Up north once I had my Directv box get fried, didn't effect the TV or the stereo and anything else. I had the Directv maintenance plan so they just gave me a new box.

[VillageIdiots]

You have the option to just pay a small lease fee in your monthly bill.

[HiHoSteveO]

There have been many threads on this in the past couple of years so a search here should turn up many results and lots of comments and opinions.

In a nutshell, you can buy or rent a SECO surge suppressor
Surge Protection – SECO Energy which is mounted outdoors at your electric meter. $349.

or, you can have an electrician install one at your electrical panel inside the garage which is a little cheaper $295. installed, if done by Lenhart. It mounts flush to the wall just beneath the electrical panel.
Surge Protection | Installation | Lenhart Electric | Residential | Commercial

Does it save appliances? Guess it depends on how close or severe the lightning strike is. And the type of surge.

It has been said that besides lightning, a major function of the "whole house" suppressor (a misnomer) is to protect from the MANY daily little hits that electric motors take when an air conditioner or major appliance turns on and off.
Here is an excellent "Ask this Old House" video that explains this.
How to Install Surge Protection | This Old House

Here's another video
The Importance of Surge Protection | This Old House

[2BNTV]

Originally Posted by village dreamer

well should I pay the $350 for a seco whole house surge protector. has anyone lost an appliance due to a surge, with a surge protector??

I would pay fro the surge protector and have peace of mind. It seems to be cheaper than if an appliance gets blown out.

I haven't lost an appliance in 5 years but I wouldn't want to find out the hard way but that's me.

[biker1]

Read the small print associated with this device. A surge between the SECO device and the transformer is not covered. It will not stop the events that cause real damage; close by lightning strike that hops onto a cable entering your house. I know a couple that lost several appliances in their home from that event and they had a SECO surge protector. There isn't a consumer grade device that will protect you from a close in lightning strike.

Originally Posted by village dreamer

well should I pay the $350 for a seco whole house surge protector. has anyone lost an appliance due to a surge, with a surge protector??

[biker1]

The fact that you haven't lost any appliances in 5 years is not proof of effectiveness. I haven't lost an appliance in over 30 years and I have never had a surge protector.

Originally Posted by 2BNTV

I would pay fro the surge protector and have peace of mind. It seems to be cheaper than if an appliance gets blown out.

I haven't lost an appliance in 5 years but I wouldn't want to find out the hard way but that's me.

[perrjojo]

I look at it this way...if I live here 8 years (and have already lived here 6 years) a surge protector will cost me $4.15 per month. I think it’s worth it since we live in the lightening capitol of the USA.

[I Tango]

We went with the Lenharts surge protection instead. It cost about the same as SECO, but it included a second separate surge protector at the fuse box to cover your cable tv. SECO didn't have an option for surge protection for the cable.

[Abby10]

Originally Posted by biker1

Read the small print associated with this device. A surge between the SECO device and the transformer is not covered. It will not stop the events that cause real damage; close by lightning strike that hops onto a cable entering your house. I know a couple that lost several appliances in their home from that event and they had a SECO surge protector. There isn't a consumer grade device that will protect you from a close in lightning strike.

All that you have said we found out the hard way, not in TV but here up north. Ours was not a lightning strike but a surge that went through half of our neighborhood when someone ran into a an electrical pole with their car. It sent a surge that damaged multiple appliances in our home as well as several of our neighbor's homes. Although we had a professionally installed surge protector in our home at the time, it was not capable of taking that sort of hit. And even though it came with $20,000 worth of insurance, the surge protector supplier would not cover it because of the power of that surge. They said exactly what you did - no surge protector could have prevented that from happening. So reading the fine print is a must. We learned the hard way. Not to say one shouldn't have one installed on their house. We have one on our TV home, but we certainly don't feel 100% protected just because we do.

[Sillymetwo]

As a newbie in Hillsborough, I bought the whole house surge suppressor from Pike’s last year, hoping for peace of mind. Also installed individual surge suppressors on specific items, such as garage door openers, irrigation system, microwave, etc. Our roof was struck by lightning on 5/16/18 on a not so stormy day. Blew off some shingles, took out the modem, a garage door opener, irrigation system, recliner motors, and one GFI. TVs, Alexa, and stereo receiver survived. Believe me, I’m thankful for no fire and no more damage. Pikes charged me to replace the GFI and said the suppressor is a “level of security” from the power source to the box, as well as the individual surge protectors. So, draw your own conclusions.

[Packer Fan]

I had a lighting strike my house in Terre Haute indiana in 1989. Homeowners insurance covered the furnace, water heater, appliances after the deductible. Not sure what you guys are all worried about, Homeowners insurance covers it.

[JoMar]

We also went with the surge protection at the panel plus surge protectors on all the computers, tv's and almost anything else that plugs into a socket. If we get a direct hit they will all be mostly useless. On the upside, several houses in our development have been hit and their stuff fried (even with protection) but their insurance covered it. The biggest pain was having the entire house wiring checked and areas replaced.

[retiredguy123]

A waste of money.