Lightening and surge protection?

Fran · 26 September 2006 at 1:37AM

How should you protect your computer, phone and other household items against lightening strikes and surges?

Where is the cheapest place to buy surge protection?

:eek:

richt71 · 26 September 2006 at 5:30AM

Fran wrote:

How should you protect your computer, phone and other household items against lightening strikes and surges?

Where is the cheapest place to buy surge protection?

:eek:

Hi,
I've actually seen the effects of a direct lightening strike on the electric line next to a house. It blow the tv and hifi across the room as they were plugged into the electric socket. The current from the strike also jumped into the phone and blow this up!
You can protect against surges and lightening strikes by plugging your expensive electronic 'stuff' into a surge protector socket. Most hardware/DIY have these nowadays. They look like a normal extension 4 plug but basically will blow if there's a surge rather than your expensive electric 'stuff'. Usually cost about £14-£20.
Not sure how you protect your phone unless you unplug them when lightening threatens!

alanwjones · 26 September 2006 at 9:28AM

I use one of these, Total protection and a lifetime Guarantee. http://www.morecomputers.co.uk/textra.asp?pn=F9M820UK2M&referer=Froogle. Alan.

wolfman · 26 September 2006 at 10:25AM

I went a bit further and got a Belkin UPS.

So basically if there is a powersurge, my computer etc... won't switch off instantly. I'll get 5-10minutes to shut it down properly.

It's got protection for my phoneline/modem too. I've got my PC, Tft, £500 amp and Xbox 360 on it so I felt it was worth the expense.

http://www.savastore.com/productinfo/product.aspx?catalog_name=Savastore&product_id=10278716&pid=44&rstrat=0

phill79 · 26 September 2006 at 2:05PM

If by lightening strike, you mean a direct strike to your house, then don't rely on a basic surge protector that you just plugged in as it won't work.

Don't forget, a surge protector is only as effective as its earth ground.
Generally in the UK, much of the lightening protection and surge protection is done at the substation.

I would buy a UPS as this will filter the electric rather than just protect from surges and also enables you to shut the machine down if the power fails.

bingo_bango · 26 September 2006 at 4:06PM

I recently bought one from Ebay, which was brand new, cost £11, and has insurance of £2500 on electrical items connected to it when you register on the website (you need to list each item and it's serial number).
Well worth it, as we had a surge last week during a lightning storm, and I have no fried equipment

John_Gray · 26 September 2006 at 5:51PM

Surely we're talking about two different things? A lightning strike has several tens of orders of magnitude more destructive power than a spike surge on the mains power supply.

I reckon the only way to protect your equipment from lightning strikes is to remove all plugs from all sockets (including the aerial socket on the TV) when storms are adjacent. Even a UPS will fry if struck by lightning.

I'd be so happy if someone could point me at a scientific study which showed that these surge protectors did anything at all to protect electrical equipment in the event of a lightning strike! Otherwise I could quite validly say that the surge protectors also prevent elephants getting into my study, because I've never had one in there since I bought the protectors...

It's different in the USA, where they have really bad lightning storms, and need all the lightning-conductor protection they can get...

Come to that, has anyone seen a scientific study on whether the spikes/surges on mains power in the UK cause any significant problems? It's pretty clean, except in unusual circumstances. But a UPS gives reassurance.

John

PS I am reminded that mains water is perfectly safe to drink, but people spend £huge amounts on bottled water...

foreversomeday · 5 October 2007 at 3:34PM

I don't know of scientific evidence, but I have seen the insides of a computer which has been directly exposed to a power surge and you can see the components are sometimes burnt/melted, which would explain how they managed to cause damage! (This was in the UK BTW, and although I've only seen one or two damaged motherboards from a power surge my boyfriend works in IT tech so he's seen a fair few and most people who suddenly have problems with their computer have recently had a power cut and were not using a surge protector.)

Also, mains water may be safe to drink, but if you live where I do, it tastes horrible! XD And I'd guess a lot of that £huge somes from people who are out and about and a bit thirsty. :-)

Bongedone · 5 October 2007 at 3:39PM

richt71 wrote: »

Hi,
I've actually seen the effects of a direct lightening strike on the electric line next to a house. It blow the tv and hifi across the room as they were plugged into the electric socket. The current from the strike also jumped into the phone and blow this up!
You can protect against surges and lightening strikes by plugging your expensive electronic 'stuff' into a surge protector socket. Most hardware/DIY have these nowadays. They look like a normal extension 4 plug but basically will blow if there's a surge rather than your expensive electric 'stuff'. Usually cost about £14-£20.
Not sure how you protect your phone unless you unplug them when lightening threatens!

I bought this Belkin one. It protects the telephone line as well: -

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9829756/Trail/searchtext%3ESURGE.htm

foreversomeday · 5 October 2007 at 4:04PM

superscaper wrote: »

Bit of an old thread to drag up?

Sorry, is that not allowed?

wolfman · 5 October 2007 at 8:45PM

foreversomeday wrote: »

Sorry, is that not allowed?

Most of the above, especially the product recommendations will be out of date. It's usually best to start a new thread than continue an outdated one.

Lightening and surge protection?

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