CenturyLink (aka QuantumFiber) has fiber to the house. The ONT is either in a box on the side of the house or in the low-voltage panel in the garage. I believe they started with houses south of 466A. I have had it over 10 years.

It can strike or be induced into the wire between the transformer and the house.

But most damage is due to the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) inducing transient voltage and current surges from the strike. Not from the power line. As others noted here, damage occurs even several homes away from the strike.

EMP Protection - How Do You Protect Your Assets from EMPs


The SECO will reduce the risk from power line damage but the warranty is not very helpful for electronic devices likely to be damaged by an EMP. This is why protection is also recommended at the device.

Surge suppression was added to the national electrical code over five years ago and finally adopted by Florida this year.

Warranty
 

Thanks for the great advice. It's been a while since I read it. There are some very important clauses in the warranty.

" Standard residential equipment is defined as "white appliances" such as HVAC, clothes washers and dryers, refrigerators, dishwashers, electric ranges and other major home appliances. If an appliance is not listed above, then the general determination for warranty coverage is that the appliance must be a motor-driven load within the residence. MTI will make the final determination. "

So home electronics and low voltage control panels (i.e., Irrigation controller) are not covered.

I also use this lug in Belkin surge suppresser, which also has a warranty.

Belkin 1-Outlet SurgeCube Portable Wall Tap with Ground & Protected Light Indicators - For Home, Office, Travel

Amazon.com

What can I say, we can only do so much. The rest is beyond our control.

I have one and SECO would not cover the damages when the house two down from us took a lightening strike and it caused a surge to our home through the power line. It took out our TV, DVD player, Modem and Cat6 card in my desktop computer. They said they only covered motorized equipment taken out by the surge.

Surge protection at Box in garage
 

I had the surge protection installed at the Box in the garage instead of the SECO outside at the meter. It was 10 years ago and can't exactly remember all the details but one was no monthly charge (12x$6? = $72/yr x 10 years - $720) and to be honest I couldn't determine the SECO solution was better. Fair disclosure > I'm a Electrical Engineer but probably don't know much more about lighting strikes than anyone else except if you get hit you have a problem. BTW I didn't like the lighting rod idea for a few reason: I wasn't crazy about attracting lighting to MY house and I didn't need any more holes in my roof or wires running around. I do tend to research things a lot- I only wish I could remember the information I learned and if you ask my wife she will verify I'm not always right.

In many areas of the country there is no surge protector to install on the meter. In these cases installing a Type-2 such as an Eaton Ultra at the circuit breaker panel is your first line of defense from a surge coming from the power lines and from induced surges coming from the branch circuits. That said, you don't necessarily need the Type-1 proctector from Seco if you have a very good Type-2 protector at your circuit breaker panel. But here in the Villages we get so much more lightning than most of the country, adding the Seco protector can help by adding an extra layer of protection. When I live in NY, I only had the Eaton Ultra and while my neighbor who had no surge protection was hit and had damage several times, I had none.

And Lightning Rods don't attract lightning. They may get hit more if they are on a very high building or tower way above all other structures and even then they don't draw the lightning towards them. That's not how it works.

I had read numerous posts about people experiencing electronics failures in their TV homes, so we went ahead and obtained a surge protector as proactive protection. We also have plugged in most of our electronics into small surge protectors that plug into the electrical outlets. Just my two cents...

Nicely done Casandra!

These "point-of-use" protectors are absolutely necessary but they can get overwhelmed with a very large power surge. This is why you really need a Primary, Type-2 surge protector installed in addition at the circuit breaker panel. This surge protector will significantly reduce and or block a large power surge so the Type-3, point-of-use surge protectors can handle the surge.

Is it correct to say the more point-of-use surge protectors you have the better?

Yes, especially if the device has embedded electronics as most appliances have now days contain.

Totally agree and Primary, Type-2 should be in everyone's home as well as surge protectors for the major electronics. . .

We own our place outright so we don't have to carry windstorm insurance coverage. But we do have lightning coverage in the basic homeowner policy.

I believe most or all policies have lightning coverage in the basic homeowners policy. The problem is first, you need to make sure your dwelling coverage it correct since many are under-insured and 2) dealing with the insurance company after a large fire resulting from a lightning strike can be a major job.

Just to review, surge protection is a layered system. That means installing a Type-2 surge protector such as the Eaton Ultra at the circuit breaker panel and Type-3 point-of-use protectors on all sensitive electronic devices such as TVs and computers. If you have cable, you should install a surge protector in the garage where the cable comes into the house.

If you can afford it, finally get the Seco surge protector which is a Type-1 at the meter but this would be the lowest priority given the Type-2 will also protect you from power surges coming from the utility.

I agree, every home here in the Villages should have a Type-2 surge protector such as the Eaton Ultra installed at the circuit breaker panel.

Pikes and Lenhart electric install these. I believe Pikes is having a sale and Lenhart will give you a discount if you tell them you heard about them here on Talk of the Villages or attended one of the Villages Lightning Study Group's talk on Lightning. I'm not sure how long these "specials" will last so I would reach out to one of these companies ASAP.

Finally, there are several other Type-2 surge protectors besides the Eaton Ultra available. I've done some preliminary research and I can say with good confidence that the specs on all of them are basically close enough to each other that the extra cost for some of them may not be worth it. Some use a gas discharge tube to extend the life of the MOV components, and some have thermally protected MOVs so they don't self sacrifice in the case of a overwhelming power surge but at of the day the extra couple hundred dollars for a Siemens or Vortex or EMP shield surgeprotector for example, over the Eaton Ultra is not buying you significant additional protection. If the Eaton Ultra fails, there is a limited life time warrenty. So all this said, given the expense, the Eaton Ultra is the most cost effective device and has been around for many years and is highly rated so everyone living here in the Villages should consider at least spending the money for this surge protector along with the Type-3 point-of-use protectors which they probably already have.

Here's a point of use option to provide protection for hard wired electrical devices such as HVAC, compressor, mini split, tankless hot water heater, pool/SPA pumps, etc.

These are devices that are also most likely to induce smaller surges into other sensitive electrical devices in your home that can degrade electronics over time.




https://a.co/d/04RV76ay

Thanks for posting this. As part of the layered surge protection approach, you can also install these point-of-use protectors specifically designed for your HVAC and pool and spa systems. I have these installed at my home. What they do is if a power surge is induced into the power lines of your pool equipment for example, this protector will block it protecting the equipment and also prevent the surge from traveling back to your main circuit breaker panel and spreading to the rest of your home. It will also block any power surges created by the switching On and OFF of your HVAC compressor and pool and or spa motors, etc.

The ones that you show by Intermatic are very reasonable and work very well and you can get them on Amazon. Just they are sometimes tricky to install so an electrician can install them for you.

Thanks!

If you can change a wall switch or outlet, you can probably do one of these.

But be aware the disconnect at the compressor outside also has an outlet connected to the outside GFI breaker circuit so that needs to be shut off also during an install.


I'll add surge protection devices"share" dissipation of the energy so the more you have, the better the protection.

I don't understand what you mean by this. The breaker box has a 200 amp breaker that disconnects all the circuits including the A/C.

Or you shut off the HVAC breaker and outside outlet breaker before opening the disconnect box at the HVAC.

True, but the HVAC shutoff located at the unit is a safety requirement so the installer can see and operate the shutoff switch where he/she is working. It ensures that someone in the house doesn't inadvertently turn on the breaker in the remote panel.

So, are you/we saying one should add this device on A/C, mini-split, pool etc plus a breaker box solution such as the Eaton Ultra?

Yes, these are for things direct weird that do not plug into an outlet .

In recent construction, they also have a 120V GFI outlet under the cover of the disconnect box.

This power is still hot when pulling the disconnect and/or shutting off the breaker.

You need to also turn off the breaker that powers the outside GFI outlets before doing anything inside that box.

So much Eaton fine print to deny any benefit. You will have to prove you filed all other claims first. And 30 day window, no way other insurers will be processing that fast.

We have talked about this a ton of times.

You don't install surge protection to collect on the insurance. The insurance is there for an extra benefit but my guess is rarely used because your homeowners is primary and if you have surge protection, you are not going to have a loss and if your do it's going to be very small.

If you read the "fine print" on surge protectors, except for the Type-1, Seco protector installed at your meter, they all read about the same. None make it easy to file a claim.

Surge protection is a layered system.

The Eaton Ultra will protect your HVAC, pool and other devices from a surge originating from a source travelling through your circuit breaker panel. But these point-of-use protectors will give you additional protection if the power surge is coupled externally at the HVAC, pool and or Spa equipment.

So yes, for the best protection I would do the following as you can afford:
1) Install the surge protector such as the Eaton Ultra at the circuit breaker panel.
2) Add any additional point-of-use protection at TVs, computer, and other sensitive equipment.
3) Install point-of-use surge protection at your HVAC, Pool and Spa equipment. These days, when this equipment is installed, surge protection is usually included.
4) Install the Seco Type-1 surge protector at the meter.

CORRECT, meaning installing a whole home surge protector, lightning rods and outlet local surge protectors is called self insured

You are personally insuring against the risk and aggravation of a random event AND the risk and aggravation of the insurance company's issues dealing with your scenario.

Same issue with home insurance and pro rated roof insurance. . the older the roof gets, the more you are self insured. . .

It's a bit more expensive living in an environment known for mother nature's disdain for building houses on farm land. .

@jrref

Thank you for that. House had the Seco unit already and Sunshine installed a surge protector for the mini split on initial install. I’ll be adding the Eaton unit and I’ll look at adding another “at source” device at the exterior HVAC box and tankless water heater.

Get it!
 

It is a additional tool in your toolbox against lightning. I think ours is $5 a month on our bill. Very happy with it. We also put high end surge strips on tv’s , computers, and anything else we dont want fried. Tripplite makes good stuff. Walmart ones are just toys. You will never say to yourself you are glad you didn't get it. You will only be happy you did.

Rusty Nelson recently posted a video of his installation of a whole-home surge protector - his version was a PSP Products Series R Vortex. According to him, he picked it because of their $100K replacement warranty of any surge-damaged items.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzO4Ak5tVuY

Rusty did a great job with that video. Just want to point out that if you call Lenhart Electric they will give you a discount on the Eaton Ultra or the PSP Vortexx surge protectors. Both are excellent with ratings that are very similar. The Vortexx is significantly more expensive and I'm not sure it's worth the extra cost. As far as insurance. Remember, If you get damage from a power surge, your homeowners insurance is the primary and the surge protector insurance is secondary. Also to collect on the surge protector insurance the surge protector has to have failed. Most of the time if you have this level of surge protection and your home gets a surge even from a near by lightning strike, the damage, if any, will be minimal. So the point is although the surge protector insurance is good, very rarely is anyone able to use it.