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Whole House Surge Protection

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Good question, not an easy answer. You'll get opinions all over the map from people. When you say protect electronics from a "nearby strike", that is too nebulous. In other words, a strike to the ground in your back yard might not damage anything, but a strike to a pole transformer far away could still kill some appliances. Let's put it this way, having one is certainly better than not having one. It can save you from damage due to the most common transient surges.
I'd spend a little more money and get a good quality unit that can handle larger surges, assuming your electrician says you can wire one into the panel.

edit: to add that it isn't going to negatively impact anything in your home UNLESS you consider that a very few of the older line communication devices could no longer work. I am talking about possibly some X10 lighting control devices (old technolgy), or some of the older "Line communication" internet devices. Insteon and other similar controllers won't be affected.

Good points. One other thing about the panel based surge protectors is they have a better place to sink current to.

Like you said, you have little to lose. I had two homes with them and I've never had any damage at all in 15+ years they have been installed. Also less clutter with the strip based ones.

I also think switching to FIOS helps minimize electrical hits. Not so much a power surge but zapping equiment through cable is a problem. Cable also caused all sorts of ground loop issues.
 
Another issue is, if you get one that ‘works’ (suppresses small spikes as noted above), how do you know when it doesn’t? They wear out, right? Do you need to replace them every, what, year? Five years? Seems like a whole lot of smoke and mirrors if you can’t even tell if it’s working. I do know some units have the LED that says if it’s failed surge protection but I’m wondering if that’s enough, if it will partially fail from all the small ‘normal’ spikes and then the large one won’t be handled.

EE here who doesn’t know enough about super high voltage except what my electrician said, lol, and also has FiOS so at least that part is covered (and has underground power lines!) :D
 
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We put a breaker style whole home unit in. It was $100, so why not.

My parents house never had lightning issues for years, and then one storm took out a whole bunch of stuff.

In our neighborhood, we had one storm that cooked all the Comcast outside plant and caused some homeowners issues. We have Fios and were unaffected.

So I figure it's cheap insurance.
 
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In addition to a whole house surge protector I have Lightning Rods on my roof peeks. My house sits in the middle of 9 acres of open space.
I have seen scorch marks on one of the rods, I assume it got struck, but no damage to electronics and the surge protector was unaffected. BTW, I bought the surge protector from an electrician, vs renting it from the power company.
 
So I have been holding off on this until I got my PTO because I didn’t want to be adding something to my panels that might affect the inspection or anything. But I now have PTO, so I’m revisiting it.

After my install I have a meter main panel that just has the 200A service disconnect in it and the TEG is fed from feed through lugs in that panel. I’m thinking I’ll put a surge suppressor in that panel.

But I also have a backed up loads panel (which has all of my circuits on it, since I have a whole house backup) as well as a generation panel that has breakers for my inverters and my powerwalls. I’m wondering if it also makes sense to put a surge suppressor in the generation panel as well. Theoretically one of the solar panels or some conduit on the roof could be struck by lightning and that would enter my system through the generation panel. Do you see any benefit to putting a surge suppressor in that panel as well?

Would it be worth putting one in the backed up loads panel also or would those loads have enough protection given that both panels that feed the backed up loads panel would have suppressors?
 
So I have been holding off on this until I got my PTO because I didn’t want to be adding something to my panels that might affect the inspection or anything. But I now have PTO, so I’m revisiting it.

After my install I have a meter main panel that just has the 200A service disconnect in it and the TEG is fed from feed through lugs in that panel. I’m thinking I’ll put a surge suppressor in that panel.

But I also have a backed up loads panel (which has all of my circuits on it, since I have a whole house backup) as well as a generation panel that has breakers for my inverters and my powerwalls. I’m wondering if it also makes sense to put a surge suppressor in the generation panel as well. Theoretically one of the solar panels or some conduit on the roof could be struck by lightning and that would enter my system through the generation panel. Do you see any benefit to putting a surge suppressor in that panel as well?

Would it be worth putting one in the backed up loads panel also or would those loads have enough protection given that both panels that feed the backed up loads panel would have suppressors?

I have a very limited understanding of this stuff but...

If you suffer a direct lightening strike to your panels I'm not sure any surge suppressor is going to save you. In order to mitigate risk of a direct strike wouldn't you be better off installing lightning rods on your roof to give the lightening a direct path to the ground?
 
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I have a very limited understanding of this stuff but...

If you suffer a direct lightening strike to your panels I'm not sure any surge suppressor is going to save you. In order to mitigate risk of a direct strike wouldn't you be better off installing lightning rods on your roof to give the lightening a direct path to the ground?

Yeah, you may be right about a direct strike. But I still wonder if there is a benefit to having a surge suppressor in the generation panel or the backed up loads panel.
 
Yeah, you may be right about a direct strike. But I still wonder if there is a benefit to having a surge suppressor in the generation panel or the backed up loads panel.

I'm only putting one on my backup loads panel once I have PTO. I don't even have space for one on my generation panel. I'm not worried about my generation panel stuff since it's all warranted for 25 years.
 
I'm only putting one on my backup loads panel once I have PTO. I don't even have space for one on my generation panel. I'm not worried about my generation panel stuff since it's all warranted for 25 years.

When I was thinking about putting one in the generation panel my thoughts were more along the lines of protecting everything that was downstream from the panel more than protecting the equipment in the panel itself. (Although protecting the equipment in the panel isn’t a bad thing. 25 year warranty or not I would rather not have to deal with a warranty claim if I don’t have to.)

But from my research it seems like the best place for a surge suppressor is as close to where the surge would come from as possible, so that seems like in the generation panel would be ideal.
 
We put a breaker style whole home unit in. It was $100, so why not.
You make a good point about the breaker style. IF there are spare slots in the main panel, that will be the least expensive alternative because it requires simply plugging them into the panel (still suggest to have an electrician do it). So unlike one of my other homes where I had to mount a unit beside the panel and then wire it into the panel, in my newer home I got ones that plug into open slots of the panel. And as others have said above, it is good to have an indicator of when they fail. I have never seen one "partially fail", but in theory I guess it could happen, though rare. Here is an example of one such plug in unit. Again, assuming there is space in the panel. And easier to replace if it does fail rather than wiring in a new unit. BRSURGE - Eaton Whole House Surge Protector
 
I looked at the breaker style ones and while they are convenient they are also rated much lower than the separate devices. The Eaton unit linked above is only rated for 18KA and the Siemens breaker style one from above is rated for 40KA. In comparison the Siemens whole house unit that I got is rated for 140KA. It’s twice the price and a bit more work to install, but I figured that if I’m going to do it then I may as well go all the way, especially since we do get a lot of lightning here in Florida.

I’m sure the breaker style ones are better than nothing, but for me it made sense to get a higher rated unit.

This is the one I used for my service entrance and what I would use for my generation panel if I decide to do it:

Siemens FS140 Whole House Surge Protection https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013WINMK6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_mU5wFbX0Z2H65
 
And here’s the device installed on my main panel. It’s definitely considerably larger than a breaker, so it makes sense that it could handle more of a surge.

8465E1FF-6D75-44E4-9D92-1ED026AE3EAE.jpeg
 
@BrettS - is that the utility's main panel where their meter goes?

@pilotSteve - how does the EMP compare to the FS140 Brett posted?
What the EMP shield manufacturer says Frequently Asked Questions | EMP Shield

"Built to exceed military standards (MIL-STD-188-125-1), EMP Shield pulls excess electricity from the electrical system in less than 500 trillionths of a second.

EMP Shield is designed to protect an entire home from Lightning, CME (coronal mass ejection, power surges, and an EMP (electromagnetic pulse). Proven and tested at Keystone Compliance, a Federally approved Department of Defense (DOD) testing facility, Our EMP Shield was struck with over 40x EMP strikes with no impact to the device.

MIL-STD-188-125-1 requires that the over-voltage spike from the E1 spike begin shunting 5,000 Amps within 20 nanoseconds. All EMP Shield models start shunting over voltage in 500 trillionths of a second. EMP Shield also designed to continue protecting through the expected durations of the E2 and E3 spikes produced by a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse.

EMP Shield has also been tested to all other military EMP Standards. Our devices are also UL 1449 compliant and have been tested at Intertek. See below for all military certified testing."

Link to their test results
 
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EMP Shield is designed to protect an entire home from Lightning, CME (coronal mass ejection, power surges, and an EMP (electromagnetic pulse). Proven and tested at Keystone Compliance, a Federally approved Department of Defense (DOD) testing facility, Our EMP Shield was struck with over 40x EMP strikes with no impact to the device.
Given the collateral issues of CME/EMPs, it seems that I would be better off going with multiple FS140s and wiring them in at the main panel and PV input to house, along with additional devices to protect against external runs of RJ-45 and coax
 
I took a look at the EMP Shield website and the whole thing just kind of reeks of snake oil to me. I can’t even make sense of half of their claims here:

Why Do I Need EMP Shield?
  • The Government has released an EMP Executive order & Homeland Security is urging people to get prepared quickly!
  • Although the grid may be down, your electrical equipment and home will still be functional if you have EMP Shield.
  • EMP Shield will ensure your vehicle operates after an EMP helping you get home, save family members, or even get supplies while others cannot.
  • Your home will be 100% protected from lightning saving you thousands of dollars and months of time if you are hit with lightning.
  • If you have a solar system or generator, you will have power and functional equipment while others do not!
 
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