Boy, I'd be nervous leaving that prime gear unprotected. I have a whole house surge supressor installed at the electric service entrance box. I also plug my gear into a PS Audio Dectet. Here in Northern Arizona we have some monster lightning storms when monsoon season starts and that's soon. If a bolt hits the house or in close proximity, nothing can withstand that force. This is why we buy Homeowner's Insurance.
Surge protector
Hello all. Just need some advice on a surge protector for my amp and preamp. A few months ago we had a thunder and lightning storm. It blew out my ac condenser in my central ac conditioner. Now am worried about that happening to my ARC Ref 6 preamp and my Krell FPB 600 amp. Right now they are on a dedicated 20 amp line that both my amp and pre are using. I listen to my system practically everyday and leave my amp on stand by all the time. My amp and pre amp. I really do not want a surge protector with a power conditioner as I have read that the Krell FPB 600 sounds best the life expectancy lasts longer if plugged directly into electric receptacle. Would I loose any Sonics from a surge protector? Should I just unplug the amp and preamp when I see a storm brewing? But then what if I am not home to unplug? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks to all. Cheers.
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+1 on a whole house surge protector. You can buy one for about $60 at Home Depot, but need an electrician to install it. Most are sacrificial, so you'd have to replace it if it got zapped, but at least everything downstream would be protected-especially if you have your equipment on local surge protectors. Tuberist is right, if you get a direct hit, all bets are off. I put a whole house surge protector on my main box and haven't noticed any degradation of sound quality, actually, it seems better. YMMV B |
Whole house protection is necessary, since almost everything these days contains electronics (even light bulbs). I replaced myself, in my Siemens style panel, double circuit breaker with whole house surge protected circuit breaker https://www.homedepot.com/p/Siemens-20-Amp-6-5-in-Whole-House-Surge-Protected-Circuit-Breaker-QSA2020SPDP/202562776 Perhaps I should add larger dedicated whole house surge protector, but I would leave it to electrician. In addition my system is plugged into Furman Elite 20PFi conditioner with strong non-sacrificial surge protection. |
@kijanki Thanks for your advice. I’m going to look into that surge protector circuit breaker. One thing I don’t understand on your reply was you said you Replaced double circuit breaker with whole house surge protector circuit. Then you said perhaps I should add larger dedicated whole house dedicated circuit breaker. I don’t understand what u meant by that last statement. I thought u first said you installed one. 🤷♂️ |
tatooedtrackmen, I suspect that the amount of energy circuit can absorb depends on physical size of components used (MOVs) and it might be related to overall size. Breaker is rated 10kA max current while physically larger whole house protector from Square D is rated 80kA. I might install this protector one day in addition to circuit breaker. Here is another one rated 100kA https://www.homedepot.com/p/Siemens-FirstSurge-Plus-100kA-Whole-House-Surge-Protection-Device-FS100/206560186 |
@So would that one be sufficient enough for my home and equipment? I’m really not to good with electric figuring out. I even had a tough time with figuring out dedicated lines for my equipment but with the advice from very helpful audiophiles on here they helped me. Thanks again. Very much appreciated. |
This subject recently had a lot of discussion that my prove helpful. https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/new-home-power-protection/post?highlight=Lightning&postid... |
tatooedtrackmen, It is hard to tell what is sufficient since lightning can have different forms. Nothing will protect against direct hit and everything else depends on the distance and location. More protection is always better. I decided to get circuit breaker type because I don't have enough space in my panel to put more circuit breakers. They recommend for protection device very short connection to a circuit breaker with no pig-tails. Since it is against the code to connect two wires to the same breaker (without pig-tailing) I would need two extra 20A circuit breakers and I don't have space for it. Perhaps one day I will get electrician to install extra panel and add more surge protection. |
Whole house surge protectors are definitely worthwhile, but I still recommend high performance surge protection near any sensitive electronics. Here is an article on my current thinking on the matter: https://inatinear.blogspot.com/2019/04/power-management-for-frugal-audiophiles.html Best, Erik |
Eric, I went with Furman Elite 20PFI. One evening bulbs got brighter for a moment and Furman's circuit breaker tripped. It automatically switched back after few seconds. Furman also protects from under-voltage preventing operation outside of specified supply limits. Furman tripped before whole house protector reacted since its protection is not MOV based and is set lower. MOVs have wide tolerance making it impossible to set low accurate limit. Most of my gear is "universal voltage" allowing safe operation to about 265VAC. |
If you leave your system on all of the time, no matter what protection you have... lightning rods, panel protection and/or unit surge protection, you are taking a risk and therefore relying on insurance to cover your loss. Even if they are just on idle.... they can be damaged with the wrong type of surge. |