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

It may help to understand that a SMP acts like a low pass filter. It is always in the circuit, and has a -3 dB point of around 3 kHz. That’s really really good since most EMI/RFI filters start working at around 100 kHz.

The low-pass filter is always there, and causes any very fast surges to present themselves as voltages across the protection device but NOT your appliance regardless of the speed of the surge itself. At the appliance, just like in a speaker, this will slow down the rise time of the surge, giving the rest of the device time to clamp on and further limit the voltage.

I believe, and it's been a while, that the 1 nanosecond time, refers to the time for the SMP to add a pole. That is, it goes from a 1-st order to 2-nd order filter, or something like that. Thanks to the low-pass effect, it has plenty of time to do this before issues arise.

The time is a little misleading.

The surge protection is always on, however it has a clamping mode. It's deceptive (or overtly conservative) because the surge protection slows the surge down by a huge amount. The clamp time and clamping voltage (188V) are severely below a damaging surge's potential.

This is different than a parallel circuit where it does NOTHING for several milliseconds (or whatever) and then becomes a short to ground.By that time your gear has already felt possibly several thousand volts.

Best,


Erik

Equipment fuses are not designed to protect you from electrocution, but the safety ground (that nuisance that audiophiles love to remove) and Ground Fault Current Interrupters are (like the outlets in your kitchen, I hope).

GFCI trip at around 5 mA. That’s MILLI-amperes, while a circuit breaker is around 15 A, and typical audio gear in the range of 1-10 Amps (typical, not exhaustive.

Let’s say a tube preamp has a 1 Amp fuse, that’s 20 x more current than would trip a GFCI. The figure I read most often is that it is estimated that that about 10 mA of current is lethal under ideally fatal conditions.

Preventing damage from lightning is a difficult thing, in no small part due to the speed caused by the sudden arcing. Parallel systems require time to activate, series do not. Parallel systems rely on the drain location being low impedance, series do not.

An EMI pulse from a lightning (or nuclear) strike can induce current in the cables in the walls themselves, it does not necessarily telegraph in from the transformers. Series devices present a very high, always on, impedance to these rapid pulses, so the majority of the voltage will be presented at the blocking coil, instead of your precious gear.

There are also other sources of induced surges. Cable TV, phone and network wiring. Then there is stupid stuff like wind gusts on an antenna. I’ve suffered several losses of Satellite TV receivers not from lightning but from wind, I assume caused by static electricity developing across the broad antenna surface... and zap! Solved eventually by using a professional, bullkhead mounted surge arrester! :)

Best,


Erik

Hi OP,

Many of them are panel brand specific, so I would consult with your electrician as to whichever is best for your needs. They all work on the same parallel principle, with MOV’s AFAIK. Not perfect, but they work much better at the panel than at the outlet.

Furman is very popular in professional use and a better value in the home than many "audiophile" power conditioners. The Series Mode surge suppression is built under license. Other users of the technology include SurgeX (unnecessarily expensive) and PS Audio.

Note Furman makes like 3 dozen models. Look for SMP, and LiFT to help you decide.

Given a choice, I am completely confident in the Furman’s and that’s what I use on my gear but would also install panel protectors to save things like my microwave, Tesla charging station, etc. :)

Best,


Erik

Hi gdnrbob,

After reading the specs I am concerned that the data may be a little misleading. They call it a "whole house" but based on the specs, I think it's a series mode unit. If it IS in fact a series mode unit, each of these "hole house" devices is going to be limited to one or 2 15A circuits thanks to the 14 gauge wiring. This type of disconnect between product features and labeling really concerns me.

I would absolutely double check the "whole house" part of it. You may be better off for the whole house with something like this:

http://www.homedepot.com/b/Electrical-Power-Distribution-Whole-House-Surge-Protectors/N-5yc1vZbm05

And a series mode protector like Furman (SMP) at your computer and precious Hi-Fi gear. That's what I did when I had the choice. Now in an apartment, I only use the Furman.

You may find this article informative:

http://www.cepro.com/article/the_myth_of_whole_house_surge_protection


Best,


Erik