topic Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors in Electronics

Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

rj167 — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 19:52:48 GMT

I need advice on what surge protectors to buy and how much joules

I need 3; 1) computer, 2 all-in-printers, telephone line, TV, cable box & internet modem 2) HD tv, HD cable box, telephone line & DVD player/recorder 3) TV, HD cable box, telephone line & DVD player/recorder.

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

dooBdoo — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 20:33:13 GMT

Someone else might answer specifically, but I don't like to give detailed advice for surge protection/power protection. If it's incorrect you might have significant property damage at some point -- I'd hate to be responsible for that. I'd rather err on the side of caution, and strongly suggest you talk with your insurance agent.

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

rj167 — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 21:46:46 GMT

So my insirance agent can tell me which surge protectors to buy? Hmmmm interesting. Hadn't thought of that.

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

susan_ca — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 21:57:34 GMT

Sounds like what you really need is a UPS (uninterruptible power supply). To protect your computer, a UPS is what you need. You can google what a UPS does and what a surge protector does. If you ask a veteran computer nerd, they'll tell you not to waste your money on a surge protector. UPS will give you enough time to save the document you are working on and turn off your computer when there is a blackout because it is battery-backup. If you use UPS for your lamps, it will also give you couple of hours of usage when there is no power as in a blackout. Do a google or ask a veteran computer IT/nerd.

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

pattypeep — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 22:10:15 GMT

Our router got fried last week ~ either due to the power outage the night before ~ or coincidentally ~ no way to be sure. Anyway, long story short, we had to replace the router and while at it bought a new and upgraded surge protector. We learned that surge protectors have fuses in them and after so many blurps of electricity, they can blow out. Never heard of that, but might be something to ask about. (We have had an unusual amount of power outages in our area this season and I finally called our energy company so that they were aware of the problem.)

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

dooBdoo — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 22:12:52 GMT

On 3/24/2014 rj167 said:
So my insirance agent can tell me which surge protectors to buy? Hmmmm interesting. Hadn't thought of that.

Yes, and you'll also find many insurance companies provide pretty good information on surge protection/power protection on their websites. Something to remember: they're the ones you'll go to if your property is damaged, so they have an interest in providing the best advice they can.

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

rj167 — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 02:27:08 GMT

Thank all of you

I'm going to look into UPS and new sugre protectors with higher joules (mine are several years old) and contact my insurance agent.

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

151949 — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 02:31:38 GMT

When we moved into our new home Florida power and light called us with an offer for a whole house surge protector to be installed where the electric comes into the house. We had that done so now we feel we are safe from electrical surges, though we still tend to uplug our electronics during bad thunder storms. It does make one feel confident that the electric co has installed protection against electric surges for us.

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

TRUE — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 02:39:42 GMT

I too need to buy new protectors for all my lamps etc. The computers is fairly new they have all the plugs so you know what to put where... I hear now they have sp's with individual timers something I'm looking for as most of my lamps are on timers.

Always something...

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

moonstone dunes — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 15:56:01 GMT

APC sells UPS an batt backup systems - below is a sizing tool. customizable by load (power) or devices: http://www.apc.com/sizing

This is a good video explanation of Battery Back-up v. Surge protectors:

http://www.apcmedia.com/vod/view_video.cfm?videoID=patrick_battery&internal=no&w=320&h=240

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

Cats3000 — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 19:37:45 GMT

We have an APC Surge Protector. We've had it for several years and it's worked. We have our computer, our router, our printer and our cable modem plugged into it. If you go to the www.apc.com website, they have a "grid" that can help you choose the surge protector that best fits your needs.

We do not have an uninterruptible power supply, because one that would meet our needs for giving us time to close out our stuff would be extremely expensive. The problems would occur if the power went out at night and we didn't realize it almost immediately. We remedy that by setting our computer so that it doesn't turn back on automatically when the power goes out. When we're worried about the weather, we'll turn off the computer and the printer and leave them off until the weather risk has cleared.

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

Cats3000 — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 19:45:50 GMT

On 3/24/2014 happy housewife said: When we moved into our new home Florida power and light called us with an offer for a whole house surge protector to be installed where the electric comes into the house. We had that done so now we feel we are safe from electrical surges, though we still tend to uplug our electronics during bad thunder storms. It does make one feel confident that the electric co has installed protection against electric surges for us.

Interesting. When we lived in Central Florida we had a whole-house surge protector installed at the electric box. When we moved here to New England, we tried to get a similar one and had some problems. We have one now, but we're not confident of it's quality. We plan to install a new breaker box. When we do that, we'll add a whole-house surge protector.

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

151949 — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 20:39:53 GMT

On 3/25/2014 Cats3000 said:
On 3/24/2014 happy housewife said: When we moved into our new home Florida power and light called us with an offer for a whole house surge protector to be installed where the electric comes into the house. We had that done so now we feel we are safe from electrical surges, though we still tend to uplug our electronics during bad thunder storms. It does make one feel confident that the electric co has installed protection against electric surges for us.

Interesting. When we lived in Central Florida we had a whole-house surge protector installed at the electric box. When we moved here to New England, we tried to get a similar one and had some problems. We have one now, but we're not confident of it's quality. We plan to install a new breaker box. When we do that, we'll add a whole-house surge protector.

Last evening we had a bad thunderstorm here and lightening hit the gate to our plan. that is only a few houses away from ours. Those gates are large and decorative and really seem to attract a lot of lightening. We thought better safe than sorry as lightening can travel down through a metal object like those gates and across the wet ground into almost anywhere. and we get a lot of thunderstorms here ! We don't live far from Tampa which is the lightening capital of the world I'm told. S

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

depglass — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 17:10:44 GMT

I've been told they don't work, so I don't have a lot of confidence in the ones I have on the computer and the TV. When there is a really bad storm I just unplug those two items. We are on satellite and can't get TV in a storm anyway.

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

voyager1980 — Thu, 29 May 2014 13:52:33 GMT

On 3/25/2014 moonstone dunes said:
APC sells UPS an batt backup systems - below is a sizing tool. customizable by load (power) or devices: http://www.apc.com/sizing

This is a good video explanation of Battery Back-up v. Surge protectors:

http://www.apcmedia.com/vod/view_video.cfm?videoID=patrick_battery&internal=no&w=320&h=240

Thanks!!!!!

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

Sunshine Kate — Thu, 29 May 2014 14:07:59 GMT

Two years ago we had a bad lightening storm and lightening struck somewhere in the backyard or very close. I had all our TV's, computers, etc. plugged into surge protectors. I always thought I was buying the best.

The lightening destroyed everything electrical in our house -- everything. Now, when it starts lightening I unplug everything in the house until the storm as passed.

The insurance company told me if lightening is bad enough a surge protector won't help no matter the quality.

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

voyager1980 — Thu, 29 May 2014 14:26:04 GMT

So it's not worth it to buy surge protectors ? I'm confused

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

voyager1980 — Thu, 29 May 2014 14:34:03 GMT

On 3/25/2014 happy housewife said:
On 3/25/2014 Cats3000 said:
On 3/24/2014 happy housewife said: When we moved into our new home Florida power and light called us with an offer for a whole house surge protector to be installed where the electric comes into the house. We had that done so now we feel we are safe from electrical surges, though we still tend to uplug our electronics during bad thunder storms. It does make one feel confident that the electric co has installed protection against electric surges for us.

Interesting. When we lived in Central Florida we had a whole-house surge protector installed at the electric box. When we moved here to New England, we tried to get a similar one and had some problems. We have one now, but we're not confident of it's quality. We plan to install a new breaker box. When we do that, we'll add a whole-house surge protector.

Last evening we had a bad thunderstorm here and lightening hit the gate to our plan. that is only a few houses away from ours. Those gates are large and decorative and really seem to attract a lot of lightening. We thought better safe than sorry as lightening can travel down through a metal object like those gates and across the wet ground into almost anywhere. and we get a lot of thunderstorms here ! We don't live far from Tampa which is the lightening capital of the world I'm told. S

Is whole house protection installed by the power company?Sorry for the questions but I've never heard of that before

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

glb613 — Thu, 29 May 2014 17:08:15 GMT

""Is whole house protection installed by the power company?Sorry for the questions but I've never heard of that before""

You can have it installed by an electrician. He/she will work with the power company since your power will be turned off while it's installed.

Re: Advice On Purchasing Surge Protectors

Montana — Thu, 29 May 2014 17:44:04 GMT

On 5/29/2014 Sunshine Kate said:
The insurance company told me if lightening is bad enough a surge protector won't help no matter the quality.

An IT person told me the same thing.