Whole House Surge Protection

Zud

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So who has one and do you like it?

I probably will be adding one in my gameroom project already underway. On a side note, I will have 4 20A circuits for my game area of 19' x 25'.
 
I like mine

I am an electrician. I installed a surge protector in the main switchboard because I was sick of throwing out the power board ones every few years

Best investment evah :)
 
I like mine

I am an electrician. I installed a surge protector in the main switchboard because I was sick of throwing out the power board ones every few years

Best investment evah :)

elaborate a little bit for the non-electricians out here. We are about to close on a house and I may as well upgrade the garage electric stuff, first thing.

I would love some suggestions to be able to run 20-30 games.
 
Out of curiosity, how do you plan on turning on all your games? By the circuit breaker, individually, or power strips, or ?

For right now individually. My original idea is a no go, but the builder and I are thinking of ideas. ;)
 
For right now individually. My original idea is a no go, but the builder and I are thinking of ideas. ;)

I turn mine on/off via circuit breaker panel. I run 20 games and have 8 circuits (can't remember if 20A or 15A). I only have like 3 or 4 games per circuit because when you flip them on they initially give an amp spike (as I understand "transformer inrush"). I have 6 pinballs and have 3 per circuit for those.

I went a little overboard on circuits so I could continue to expand the collection, but as your area will start out pretty much full, you don't have to worry about the expansion aspect.
 
For right now individually. My original idea is a no go, but the builder and I are thinking of ideas. ;)

I have 41 machines and 4 pins in my basement on (8) 20 amp circuits and I just flip the breakers to turn them on and off.
 
I've got a whole-house surge suppressor...awesome thing to have.

Right now I turn my games on in groups of 2-3. Each group is on its own 20amp circuit at the moment.
 
elaborate a little bit for the non-electricians out here. We are about to close on a house and I may as well upgrade the garage electric stuff, first thing.

I would love some suggestions to be able to run 20-30 games.

My house has a large surge suppressor, shaped like a circuit breaker in the meter box.

It protects everything in my house, because my house has single phase power. IE only one set of wires in the supply.
I no longer need surge protected power boards

People with 2 or 3 phase homes (2 or 3 active wires in the supply power) may need 2 or 3 surge protectors - if there are power outlets running on the 2nd or 3rd phase.

Personally if a client asks me to put surge protectors on their house, I will recommend 2 of them, and stack all the power outlets evenly onto them 2 phases.
Items that don't need protection get moved to the unprotected phase, such as hot water, old aircons etc
 
My house has a large surge suppressor, shaped like a circuit breaker in the meter box.

It protects everything in my house, because my house has single phase power. IE only one set of wires in the supply.
I no longer need surge protected power boards

People with 2 or 3 phase homes (2 or 3 active wires in the supply power) may need 2 or 3 surge protectors - if there are power outlets running on the 2nd or 3rd phase.

Personally if a client asks me to put surge protectors on their house, I will recommend 2 of them, and stack all the power outlets evenly onto them 2 phases.
Items that don't need protection get moved to the unprotected phase, such as hot water, old aircons etc

There is no such thing in the US as "2-phase power" You have 3 phase and single phase 240v.

Commerical buildings are wired for 3-phase power. I've never yet seen or heard of a house with 3-phase service, although it could exist for people with some crazy shop in their backyard that need it.

Homes are wired with single-phase 240v, often mistakenly called "2-phase". This is because the transformer feeding it is a single phase transformer that is center-tapped with 2 legs that are 180 degrees out of phase. The center tap is grounded and becomes the neutral. Each of the legs is 120V with respect to the neutral and because they are 180 degrees out of phase, you get 240V between them.

In a 3-phase system you have 3 seperate phases that are each 120 degrees out of phase, as a result you have 120V with respect to the neutral and 208V between any 2 phases.

Each leg does have to have surge suppression on it as stated.

Moving loads around randomly just for the convienance of surge protection is a bad idea. You want to keep things as evenly balanced as possible. This generally means lighting is equally spread between legs as are the outlets.

Scott
 
There is no such thing in the US as "2-phase power" You have 3 phase and single phase 240v.

Commerical buildings are wired for 3-phase power. I've never yet seen or heard of a house with 3-phase service, although it could exist for people with some crazy shop in their backyard that need it.

Homes are wired with single-phase 240v, often mistakenly called "2-phase". This is because the transformer feeding it is a single phase transformer that is center-tapped with 2 legs that are 180 degrees out of phase. The center tap is grounded and becomes the neutral. Each of the legs is 120V with respect to the neutral and because they are 180 degrees out of phase, you get 240V between them.

In a 3-phase system you have 3 seperate phases that are each 120 degrees out of phase, as a result you have 120V with respect to the neutral and 208V between any 2 phases.

Each leg does have to have surge suppression on it as stated.

Moving loads around randomly just for the convienance of surge protection is a bad idea. You want to keep things as evenly balanced as possible. This generally means lighting is equally spread between legs as are the outlets.

Scott

Cool

I do agree, nothing is ever done randomly
1. it's poor practice
2. It can lead to problems

I was just keeping it simple as I was asked to do.
:)
 
I have one light switch per outlet and 3 sets(outlet and light switch) per 20 amp Breaker. I have my outlet at regular heights and my switches in the ceiling above the pair of machines. I keep the switches high so kids dont turn them on and off.

Flip a switch and a pair of games turn on. No need to worry if the switch on the machine is on the back.

-Jake
 
I've got a Square D whole house protector, and love it. Not just for the games. As for protecting the games, they all run through a 3-phase disconnect (Murray, Disconnect Switch, GU221). Throwing the switch with a loud "Chunk" is awesome. When disconnected, all 3 wires (Hot, Neutral and Ground) are disconnected. That just supplies the power. But, to turn the games on/off, I use a wireless AC switch. One for each game, except the pins, they're easy to turn on from the front.
 

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That's a pretty cool wireless A/C switch. Where'd you get that?

I've got a Square D whole house protector, and love it. Not just for the games. As for protecting the games, they all run through a 3-phase disconnect (Murray, Disconnect Switch, GU221). Throwing the switch with a loud "Chunk" is awesome. When disconnected, all 3 wires (Hot, Neutral and Ground) are disconnected. That just supplies the power. But, to turn the games on/off, I use a wireless AC switch. One for each game, except the pins, they're easy to turn on from the front.
 
This is what the builder showed me. Not sure if it will do what I was thinking:

Home Line: HOM2175SB
 
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