Vinyl Rules!
Member
I currently live at about 3,500’ in the Blue Ridge mountains in northwestern NC. My current whole house surge protector has been in place since 1995, and a replacement is likely long overdue. We do get occasional thunder storms with lightning, but nothing like we experienced in Texas.
So my question is what should I get? I’m considering an EMP Shield – Home EMP & Lightning Protection + CME Defense for Flush Mounted Breaker Box (SP-120-240-RL/Concealed Model) Lightning, Solar Flare, and Surge Protection for about $460. The manufacturer claims it is capable of withstanding up to 228,000 AMPS per phase, which seems like a good rating compared to other whole house protectors with lower ratings. The company sells direct and through Amazon, and their web site is https://www.empshield.com/. In their specs, I was unable to find what their rated clamping voltage is.
In my research, I’ve of course come across several significantly more expensive “boutique audiophile” surge protectors with much lower ratings.
So, i’m open to recommendations. Any feedback would be appreciated.
A TRUE STORY: I lived in Arlington, TX back in the 80’s and 90’s. We had a bad thunderstorm roll through one afternoon and lightning struck the transformer that fed our home and several others, and the strike blew the transformer off the pole into my backyard. I incurred ZERO damage, and my power feed was the closest to the transformer.
My neighbour on our left lost EVERYTHING that was plugged into an outlet, including their stove, refrigerator, D/W, water heater, and their HVAC. Even worse, all of their home’s interior electrical wiring was fried and the entire house had to be re-wired. Their insurance company was only willing to replace their inside wiring with wiring in code-approved conduit and conduit mounted outlets that would be placed on the bottom outside of their walls in all the interior rooms (would have been ugly as hell).
The neighbour paid extra to have electricians fish new wiring down from the attic so the wiring would be like it was before. This was an expensive extra cost NOT COVERED by their H/O policy. It was August in central Texas and an electrician could only last about 15 minutes in the attic before they had to take a break. Their attic temperature ranged from 130F to 140F. And they had to buy all new appliances, install a new HVAC, and live in a hotel room for two months while all this work was being done.
My neighbour on the other side had mostly $20 - $30 plug-in surge protectors, and they were all fried. Virtually everything plugged into a 120V outlet was fried. The stuff that was plugged into a 240V outlet mostly survived, but the stove lost its clock and timer settings, and the dryer somewhat worked but you could not set the drying time or temperature. All of this pain could likely been avoided if a $150 -$250 whole house surge protector been installed and properly grounded.
After this storm I immediately replaced my whole-house surge protector as I correctly assumed it had been friedi. As always. YMMV
So my question is what should I get? I’m considering an EMP Shield – Home EMP & Lightning Protection + CME Defense for Flush Mounted Breaker Box (SP-120-240-RL/Concealed Model) Lightning, Solar Flare, and Surge Protection for about $460. The manufacturer claims it is capable of withstanding up to 228,000 AMPS per phase, which seems like a good rating compared to other whole house protectors with lower ratings. The company sells direct and through Amazon, and their web site is https://www.empshield.com/. In their specs, I was unable to find what their rated clamping voltage is.
In my research, I’ve of course come across several significantly more expensive “boutique audiophile” surge protectors with much lower ratings.
So, i’m open to recommendations. Any feedback would be appreciated.
A TRUE STORY: I lived in Arlington, TX back in the 80’s and 90’s. We had a bad thunderstorm roll through one afternoon and lightning struck the transformer that fed our home and several others, and the strike blew the transformer off the pole into my backyard. I incurred ZERO damage, and my power feed was the closest to the transformer.
My neighbour on our left lost EVERYTHING that was plugged into an outlet, including their stove, refrigerator, D/W, water heater, and their HVAC. Even worse, all of their home’s interior electrical wiring was fried and the entire house had to be re-wired. Their insurance company was only willing to replace their inside wiring with wiring in code-approved conduit and conduit mounted outlets that would be placed on the bottom outside of their walls in all the interior rooms (would have been ugly as hell).
The neighbour paid extra to have electricians fish new wiring down from the attic so the wiring would be like it was before. This was an expensive extra cost NOT COVERED by their H/O policy. It was August in central Texas and an electrician could only last about 15 minutes in the attic before they had to take a break. Their attic temperature ranged from 130F to 140F. And they had to buy all new appliances, install a new HVAC, and live in a hotel room for two months while all this work was being done.
My neighbour on the other side had mostly $20 - $30 plug-in surge protectors, and they were all fried. Virtually everything plugged into a 120V outlet was fried. The stuff that was plugged into a 240V outlet mostly survived, but the stove lost its clock and timer settings, and the dryer somewhat worked but you could not set the drying time or temperature. All of this pain could likely been avoided if a $150 -$250 whole house surge protector been installed and properly grounded.
After this storm I immediately replaced my whole-house surge protector as I correctly assumed it had been friedi. As always. YMMV
