Owens Corning
Surge Protection
Everyone has experienced a blackout at one time or another, but voltage spikes occur much more frequently and usually go unnoticed. That's until a spike knocks out a television set or home computer. Voltage spikes are momentary rises in the line voltage to hundreds, sometimes thousands of volts. Some spikes originate outside of your home at the power company, some are caused by lighting and others are generated right inside your house.

Whatever its origin, a voltage spike can damage or destroy anything that contains transistors or solid state devices. If the spike is not strong enough to knock out the unit, it causes such a strain that it will shorten the life of most solid state electronic components.

Microwaves, telephone answering machines, fax machines, home computers and of course, televisions and stereo systems are all vulnerable to a voltage spike. It can damage any appliance, large or small, that contains a motors. The service life of refrigerators and air conditioners can be shortened by the constant bombardment of high voltage.

Fortunately, voltage spikes are easier to deal with than a total blackout. A relatively inexpensive device called a surge suppressor protects solid state devices from all but the most violent voltage spike.

The type of device you purchase and where you place it affects how much protection you can expect. Units that guard the hot, neutral, and ground wire for spikes provide the best protection. Generally, you should purchase a surge suppressor that will clamp a voltage spike to under 400 volts. The lower the clamping voltage level is, the more protection the surge suppressor offers. A low clamping voltage rating (which is stated on the package label) is especially important if the surge suppressor is for computers and electronic gear.

Surge suppressors that plug into an outlet and filter voltage spikes have been around for several years. One of the latest versions is the Electra Guard Model EG240RC by Intermatic, which mounts directly on the circuit breaker panel and provides whole house protection.

Voltage spikes can be generated inside the house anytime a motor, or even a fluorescent light, is turned off. The spikes will not be clipped by a suppressor monitoring the power line. Individual surge protectors for each electronic device or a multi-outlet surge suppressor is the best protection. Woods' Single Outlet model 411, or their 414 Six Outlet surge suppressor, provides protection for all types of electronic gear from spikes generated inside the house or coming from the power line.

The most convenient method of turning on a home computer and its peripherals like a monitor and printer is with a switched multiple outlet power strip. These are available with built-in surge suppression. Curtis manufactures several surge suppressors that fit under the computer monitor and provide multiple-surge-protected switched outlets to plug computer components into. In addition to line voltage protection, these units provide surge suppressors to protect any device connected to the telephone line. Modems and Fax machines plugged into these units are protected from line voltage spikes and spikes coming in over the telephone line.

Voltage spikes on telephone and TV antenna lines tend to be serious and should not be overlooked. Any wire can have an electrical current induced into it by a strong magnetic field so telephone and television antenna lead-in wires have the potential to develop voltage spikes induced into them by an electrical storm. These spikes can kill any home electronics that are attached to the antenna along with an answering machine, fax machine, and computer modem that are connected to the telephone line.

Intermatic offers a combination unit that protects a home entertainment system. It has 6 protected outlets, which eliminates the need for the usual multiple outlet adapter and the rat's nest of cords usually required to handle all the components. In addition, there are 2 coaxial cable connectors. The antenna lead-in or cable television line is connected to the input side of the unit and the output is led to the set or VCR. This protects against voltage spikes on the antenna or cable line. The unit is not a lighting arrestor and will do little to protect a television in the event of a lightning strike.

Another combination unit is designed to protect a telephone answering machine, fax, or computer and modem. It has 2 protected outlets and 1 phone line filter to protect a fax or telephone answering machine, or any device connected to the phone line.

Source List

Intermatic Incorporated
Intermatic Plaza
Spring Grove, IL 60081
(815)675-2321

Woods Wire Products
510 Third Ave. S.W.
P.O. Box 2675
Carmel, Indiana 46032-6675
(317)844-7261

Curtis Manufacturing Company
30 Fitzgerald Drive
Jaffrey, NH 03452
(603)532-4123

written by the editors of HouseNet
Copyright HouseNet, Inc.

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