whole house surge protectors

[edwardh1]

in my part of south carolina there are almost no whole house surge protectors used. I tried to talk my trane dealer into installing one on the circuit of my two new expensive hvac systems , or on the main breaker box but he would not do it.

whats up? do they not work, or are they too troublesome.

in some parts of the country the power companies seem to install them but here in coastal south carolina, south carolina electric and gas does not

[John Kogel]

I have not heard any reason not to install a surge protector, so we can assume the people you asked didn't know much about them?

We get more brown outs here than surges. I never see whole house surge protectors installed probably for that reason. It can't do any harm though, as long as it is installed safely and correctly.

[Jim Katen]

in my part of south carolina there are almost no whole house surge protectors used. I tried to talk my trane dealer into installing one on the circuit of my two new expensive hvac systems , or on the main breaker box but he would not do it.

whats up? do they not work, or are they too troublesome.

in some parts of the country the power companies seem to install them but here in coastal south carolina, south carolina electric and gas does not

They work just fine and they're a good idea if you have a lot of surges in your area.

I'm not sure about South Carolina, but in Oregon, HVAC installers generally only have limited electrical licences. They can install wiring associated with their equipment only on the load side of the breaker serving their circuit. So they're probably not the people to talk to about installing a surge protector.

Ask a real electrician to help you out.

[edwardh1]

I think there are some that install in the hvac breker box but they were not interested in installing thos eeither

[Jim Katen]

What brand service panel do you have and how old is it?

[edwardh1]

1984 ish cutler hammer ch7 JJ for house main breaker

the a/c compressor 3 1/2 ton and strip heat boxes are pull out disconnects mounted near the outside unit of course..

also have a 2 ton upstair split system , outside condenser has a pull out disconnect too.

I could be happy with just protecting those hvac units as they are the big money

[Jim Katen]

Why not just buy one of these and stick it in the panel?

http://www.platt.com/platt-electric-sup ... pid=271571

[edwardh1]

Panel be full

but it would be a good and easy fix

thanks

[Jim Katen]

Panel be full

but it would be a good and easy fix

thanks

Then there's another version that consists of a pair of bundled 20-amp breakers. You take out two existing 20-amp breakers and replace them with a dual 20-amp surge protector.

[Marc]

Why not just buy one of these and stick it in the panel?

http://www.platt.com/platt-electric-sup ... pid=271571

480 joules of dissipation isn't much these days. The big orange box has a wall mount strip with 700 joules of protection for under $9.

Marc

[Jim Katen]

Why not just buy one of these and stick it in the panel?

http://www.platt.com/platt-electric-sup ... pid=271571

480 joules of dissipation isn't much these days. The big orange box has a wall mount strip with 700 joules of protection for under $9.

Marc

And it's probably worth every penny.

How about this one:

http://www.platt.com/platt-electric-sup ... pid=848511

It'll dissapate 3,500 joules.

[edwardh1]

found this- consumer stuff is near the end, along with cable/phone/power ground issues

[edwardh1]

try again

http://industrial.sceg.com/NR/rdonlyres ... on1008.pdf

[SparkyMB]

I know that Mister Sparky in Charleston offers whole house surge protection. Whole house coverage is a not just an electrical panel surge protector. You must protect every entry point. TV, Phones, and electrical. They are all connected and to not protect one could make the others useless.