Surge Protectors on your fusebox?

Shavenyak

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I was in Lowe's today and they had a poster for a big surge protector that you put (appeared) on the outside of your house where the power comes in to your meter or fusebox. It didn't have alot of details, including cost.

Has anyone heard of these? Are they worth the investment? How much surge can they handle? Could they handle lightning? What do they cost?

It sounds like a good idea when you think about it. If a surge took out my TV I have to take into consideration my home owners deductable ($500) + my premium would probably increase. Unless it took out all my games I rpobably wouldn't be able to make a claim.....
 
I just saw something like this on the HGTV channel. It is a surge protector that attaches on the line going into the breaker box. It does not take the place of regular surge protectors, but is added insurance in case of a lightning strike or something like that.

I never heard of it myself, but they say it is about $500 installed.


ArcadeMaze
 
I put one on my house.

I ordered a panamax one from amazon -- it was about $85-$100 if I recall correctly.

I paid some electricians to come wire it up and they said because of the brick exterior behind the circuit breaker they'd really have to tear things up to get it in the wiring BEFORE the circuit breakers.

I wanted it in but didn't want a huge construction project along with large repair bills so we compromised and they put it in but it's in the circuits after they come into the circuit breaker (and the box is mounted in the drywall below the circuit breaker).

So far no issues and that was probably 3-4 years ago.
 
whole house surge protectors are dead easy to install and cheap. my home depot has them for $80 and they install in about 10 minutes. you simply punch out a knock out on the side of your panel to mount it, and then wire it into the ground bus and a double pole circuit breaker.

this guy
 
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I just saw something like this on the HGTV channel. It is a surge protector that attaches on the line going into the breaker box. It does not take the place of regular surge protectors, but is added insurance in case of a lightning strike or something like that.

I never heard of it myself, but they say it is about $500 installed.


ArcadeMaze

If it doesn't take the place of regular surge protectors, what's the point? I would think if lightning struck it would wipe out enough things in the house to justify making an insurance claim but if a small surge came in and took my TV or a arcade game or two, I'm SOL. The surge protector Brokenhalo points to at Home Depot is only $80. I've seen individual Panamax SPs go for over $100. Maybe I'm missing something.
 
I think the gist of it is that it will knock down surges for everything in your house. Maybe a surge will come in that it knocks down to the point where nothing gets damaged in your house.

You should still have individual surge protectors for sensitive equipment but between the two you should have good protection for most things short of lightning strikes.

And if you don't have individual surge protectors on something then having the whole house unit is better than not having anything at all for a surge.
 
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