[Spartan86]

Originally Posted by djlnc

This one looks interesting. I looked on Amazon and see that some folks mounted it inside the breaker box and drilled two small holes in order to view the status LEDs. Anybody know what the NEC has to say about drilling holes in the breaker box cover?

I've wondered the same thing. Note he said he was an electrician. Doesn't make it legal but I thought it interesting.

[jrref]

Originally Posted by Pamelaripp

Yes, get a SECO Surge Suppressor! It is far superior to any other whole house surge suppressor that an every day Electrician would be able to install and has a more powerful Joule rating than an ordinary whole house surge suppressor has. In addition, install plug in surge suppressors on your TVs and computers, etc.

I've lived in Florida (lightning capital of the USA) for over 20 years and know many people who have paid a very high price for surges damaging their homes (including me)! You don't need to suffer a direct hit from lightning to experience a lot of damage. Even if you have homeowners insurance, you still need to pay the deductible and chances are that will cost much more than the SECO surge suppressor! I think that The Villages should ask SECO to install their whole house surge suppressors in ALL NEW homes!

While the Seco surge protector installed at the meter is necessary in the layered surge protection approach, its designed mainly to reduce and or stop large surges coming from the power utility which occurs about 20% of the time according to a study done by Leviton. This is why many times homeowners will report that they had a strike and suffered damage to appliance and electronics even though the Seco surge protector was fine and never triggered. It's because the power surge didn't come from the power utility lines.

The Type-2 surge protector installed by an electrician at the circuit breaker box also blocks surges coming from the utility line but also reduces and or blocks power surges coming from all the branch circuits which occurs about 80% of the time. This surge protector is designed to protect sensitive electronic equipment while the Seco protector clearly states in its warranty that it does not guarantee protection for any device with an electronic chip. As far as stopping the surge Before it comes into your house, The Type-2 protector such as the Eaton Ultra is designed to be connected to the closest breaker slot to the main feed in the circuit breaker panel just for this reason. You want the protector as close to the power source coming from the utility as possible because many power surges are very fast and the length of the wires and the location to the main breaker can make a difference.

Hope this clears things up.