Environmental Potentials whole house surge protection, can I get your opinions?

jea48

Proof.
From the Leviton Link, you provided in an earlier post.
http://levitoncompanyinc.com/OA_HTML/SectionDisplay.jsp?section=37748&minisite=10251

Click on the tab for "Whole House Warranty

You’re confusing a warranty with iron-clad proof. Those are two different things. But if it satisfies your demand for proof, that's a good thing.

jea48

That is not proof that the SPD will protect the electronics used in equipment or appliances found inside the house from a direct lightning hit to the electrical service of the house

Quite so, it is not proof. Again, you seek an absolute, iron-clad, no-fault guarantee, and you’re not going to find that in this realm. On anything. That's why I wear a seatbelt, even though it doesn't offer the kind of guarantee you seem to demand.

jea482,247 posts

The only thing that would totally protect a home from a direct lightning strike would be to totally enclose it inside of an earth grounded Faraday Cage. Though that could prove to be quite expensive ... If there is real world testing documentation, conducted by a recognized 3rd party testing laboratory, that proves a whole house SPD in conjunction with an average to good low resistance earth soil to grounding electrode of, say, 5 ohms or less, then please produce the documentation/white paper.

I’m not sure what your point is. No safety device provides 100 percent protection against all threats under every circumstance every time. Life doesn’t work that way, but that doesn’t stop people from using seatbelts, does it?

Regardless, your statement below is false:

You won’t find any SPD that will protect your home from a direct lightning strike.

As I explained to you, Type 1 devices such as this are quite effective. But if you want an absolute, iron-clad, no-fault guarantee, you’re not going to find that in this realm.

jea48

You won't find any SPD that will protect your home from a direct lightning strike.
If you find a manufacture that claims it will you best read the fine print.

Of course no device is absolutely 100 percent effective. However, Type 1 devices are designed to protect from direct lightning strikes and are quite effective. Note that not all electric utilities allow them.

One such device is Eaton CHSPT1, which is UL compliant.

the SPD should be installed as close as possible to the load side of the electrical service panel main breaker.

Oh no, not at all. A Type 1 device must first connect to the transformer secondary, not the load side. (Although I''m pretty sure you can put it on the load side as well.) Please check the application sheets for the Type 1 device of your choice.

All earth connections should connect to a single point to the electrical service entrance neutral conductor.

Yes, this is a must, and required by NEC.

westom15 posts

One should learn these basic and well understood concepts BEFORE posting denials.

a fuse myth is promoted subjectively - without numbers

I’m not sure why you call fuses a "myth."

How does a millimeters gap in a fuse block what three miles of sky could not?

Don’t be silly. A fuse is not designed to do that.

One should learn these basic and well understood concepts BEFORE posting denials.

Agreed! Please take some time to learn that fuses are not a myth.

Subjective reasoning is how junk science gets promoted. One claims Furman does effective protection. But could not post even one Furman spec number that says so. Because Furman does not claim effective protection - except subjectively in sales brochures where lying is legal.

That’s absurd. The Furman units - and other similar devices - are in wide use and their effectiveness is demonstrable. It’s not clear why this troubles you so.

Facilities that cannot have damage properly earth all incoming wires. Some wires do not even have surge protectors. A hardwire connects low impedance (ie less than 10 feet) to single point earth ground.

Whoa ... careful there! You might want to read the NEC and your local codes. There’s really no such thing as a "single point earth ground" in an NEC-compliant installation. NEC requires all grounds to be bonded together at the service panel. And in many installations, code requires more than one ground rod. Clearly, you simply do not know what you are talking about.

Protectors are simply connecting devices to what does protection.

Silly semantics.

Ineffective and grossly overpriced ’magic boxes’ (ie Furman) have no earth ground. And will not discuss it.

And why an item that needs most attention is the single point earth ground.

Again ... " single point earth ground" is not code complaint and is potentially dangerous. You simply do not know what you are talking about. This is why EEs and electricians are licensed.

westom

No protector does protection. Effective protectors (ie whole house) are connecting devices to what does protection.

Semantics.

A protector is only as effective as its earth ground. Protection is defined by what harmlessly absorbs hundreds of thousands of joules - single point earth ground.

You're confused. A fuse provides "protection" and earth ground has nothing to do with its effectiveness. And your reference to " hundreds of thousands of joules" is an arbitrary figure.

Ineffective and obscenely profitable devices such as a Furman are only magic boxes hyped subjectively as surge protectors.

No, the Furman units are surge protectors, and that is demonstrable. Their effectiveness has limits, of course. But that doesn't make them "ineffective."

Type 1 does not define protection . Type 1 is a human safety parameter.

Sorry, but you don't know what you're talking about. "Type 1" is a distinct category of surge protection.

mb1audio02

... no surge protector that I know of can protect against a lightning strike.

You need a Type 1 device for that degree of protection, such as this. Oddly, not all utilities allow them to be installed on their network.