Surge Protection

[Seeker]

Every so often I get an offer from my power co.  for a whole house surge protector... anyone have any thoughts on this kinda thing?  Ie how effective are they from a practical standpoint? 

 

[Gold]

I’d ask your homeowners insurance if they offer a rate reduction with the surge suppressor. That should give you an idea.

I know Florida has a lot of lightning storms.

 

[PRR]

Lightning protection, like water filters, must be done in layers. Here I have a frog-screen, a sand-screen, and a paper silt-filter; and had a micro-filter for drinking. A protector at your meter is a good thing, but should be followed by a protector in your fusebox and a protector at each critical load (computer, beer-cooler).

 

[iomegaman]

Along these lines of questions:

I use the furman power conditioners in my gear...but lately as I have become a hUM hUnTer...(the joys of balanced vs unbalanced vs computer systems)...I've begun to wonder if they actually do much more than provide a big tranX and a few caps to even out ripple...beyond that I notice no difference...

Do power conditioners actually do much?

 

[Seeker]

Thanks for the responses....

I’d ask your homeowners insurance if they offer a rate reduction with the surge suppressor. That should give you an idea.

I know Florida has a lot of lightning storms.
[/quote
I actually called my insurance but they were clueless and don't offer any discount... 

Lightning protection, like water filters, must be done in layers. Here I have a frog-screen, a sand-screen, and a paper silt-filter; and had a micro-filter for drinking. A protector at your meter is a good thing, but should be followed by a protector in your fusebox and a protector at each critical load (computer, beer-cooler).

I have protection for my computer and studio equipment, and some other sensitive devices... so it seems the best bang for the buck is to put in a breaker box surge protector, since its not too expensive and I can install it myself, then consider adding the before meter protector later on. 

I've gotten off pretty easy over the years with surges, etc, but recently my neighbor down the street had pretty much everything in her house destroyed when a transformer blew, so its got me thinking about taking it a bit more seriously.