ZeroSurge 2R15W Surge Protector Review

[paulraphael]

Surge protection works best at the entrance to the home due to very low impedance of the ground there. This means surges are shunted better than doing the same thing across many feet inside your home. You can get the power company to put one in side the meter. Ours cost about $350. Or you can get an electrician to put one next to your breaker panel. This will naturally cost more.

The industry recommendation seems to be doing both: a class-1 or class-2 protector at the panel, and class-3 protectors at outlets where you have sensitive electronics. There are a couple of reasons for this, but a big one is that the "let-through" voltage of the big whole-house protectors is pretty high. Our Siemens unit lets through over 600v, and that's if it's installed perfectly, with the shortest possible leads. This is the lowest let-through voltage I could find.

The best class-3 outlet protectors have a 330v let-through rating (this is the lowest official rating allowed by the UL standard). Some of them the actual let-through voltage is 240v or maybe lower.

I'm skeptical of ZeroSurge's claims about the superiority of serial filtering. Besides, of course, that their non-sacrificial. I've noticed that all the high-end surge protectors, like our Siemens unit, and the $$$$ ones used to protect data centers, are parallel, using either MOVs or some kind of air-gap technology.

Also: it's pretty easy to install your own class-2 protector at the panel. It might void your bajillion dollar equipment protection warranty, but there's so much fine print on those that I doubt anyone's ever collected a penny.

 

[T0paz]

I'm not an expert in the field, but I'd think if you are going to spend this kind of money for surge protection, a whole house solution may be a better investment.

Many whole house surge protectors will pass 650 volts of surge energy at the device and up to 25 volts of additional surge energy per inch of wiring. So 18 inches of wiring to a breaker will cause the Whole House SPD to pass 1100 volts of surge energy into the house.

 

[T0paz]

I use this surge suppressor and it is very effective at removing inductive motor noise and inrush current switching noise. I believe it works similar to the Zero surge under test here. Definitely filters transients which on occasion have tripped my amp.

The Amatek/esp XG-PCS-20D is not a Series Mode filter and therefore not the same as ZeroSurge. The XG-PCS-20D uses multistage protection largely based on MOV's and gas discharge tubes.

 

[T0paz]

Just an FYI as I haven't read the whole thread. The original owner and patent holder, Rudy, told me back in '96 or so that almost all surge-based disruptions to devices in the home are not protected from whole house surge protection because the majority of damage is caused by other devices in the home. We spoke at great length, and he made his bucks consulting to utility companies. not selling his surge protectors. I own many of their devices and the oldest one is from '97 or so, still kicking. They even asked me to send it in so they could test it after 10 years (all on their dime) -- checked out fine. Give Zero Surge's Donna a call (pretty sure she's been the longest term employee and has pretty good tech chops).

Eaton states that some 20% of surges originate from outside the home and can be caused by downed or damaged utility lines, indirect lightning, utility grid transfers, widespread power outages, while 80% of surges are internal to the home and as a result of motors turning on/off i.e. refrigerators, dryers, garage door openers, HVAC units (fans), shop tools (miter saws, air compressors, etc ... ) You can read the top level article here. For a more in-depth read, check out Eaton's Guide to Surge Suppression. For Type whole house SPD many offer around 650 volts of let-through voltage at the device itself and per Eaton from 15V to 25V of additional surge energy per inch of wiring from the SPD to the breaker. Since its recommended that the wiring have twists, if you assume 25V of additional surge energy for each inch of installation and a typical installation will be 18 inches to 36 inches (or more), then a Whole House SPD will let through 1100 Volts or more of surge energy which is hardly worth skipping Type 3 (point of use) Surge Protection devices in the home.

Surges like to travel in straight line paths and house wiring is anything but a straight line. Often times the surge travels along the branch circuit to another device/appliance that is plugged into a nearby outlet damaging whatever it finds. The damage may not be catastrophic, but it is cumulative. I would say if you have the money install a Whole House SPD as well as Type 3 SPD's throughout the home where they are needed. I prefer Series Mode since I had a two bad experiences with MOV based Type 3 Surge Protection devices.

Donna knows a lot and both she & Jim are easy to talk to or email and have taken the time to answer many questions I had over the years.

 

[T0paz]

Bummed. Local power utility doesn't offer the install-at-meter program. Amir is lucky to have it. Checked with Zero Surge and they don't make a whole-house product. Anyone know of a whole-house surge protection device that is not based on MOV? In communicating with Zero Surge they indicated whole-house MOV devices typically have a surge let-through of about 700V-900V. Yikes!

SurgeX makes one that can be installed next to the mains panel and will protect up to 4 branch circuits of 20A each which may not work for you. You can read more about it here. In certain applications, the MOV is not a bad device i.e. when it's sole purpose is to shunt the surge directly to the Earth (or in this case to a breaker in the mains panel which has a neutral that is bonded to a ground rod), but you still have to deal with the possible 1100+ volts of surge energy passed into the house assuming an 18 inch lead installation from the Type 2 SPD to a breaker.

 

[paulraphael]

Many whole house surge protectors will pass 650 volts of surge energy at the device and up to 25 volts of additional surge energy per inch of wiring. So 18 inches of wiring to a breaker will cause the Whole House SPD to pass 1100 volts of surge energy into the house.

True in principle, but the surge protector's rating should be based on a realistic length of wire, not zero wire. My Siemens unit is rated at 600v let-through voltage on all three poles, with 12" leads. You only have to think about the voltage going up for length beyond that.

You should still put a good quality (minimum let-through voltage) type-3 surge protector at the outlets where you have expensive electronics. That's the 2-tiered approach the manufacturers recommend. The whole-house unit on its own should be enough to protect your appliances. And it should keep any major surges from blowing your type-3 protectors to bits.

 

[EJ3]

That's the 2-tiered approach the manufacturers recommend. The whole-house unit on its own should be enough to protect your appliances. And it should keep any major surges from blowing your type-3 protectors to bits.

YES!

 

[T0paz]

True in principle, but the surge protector's rating should be based on a realistic length of wire, not zero wire. My Siemens unit is rated at 600v let-through voltage on all three poles, with 12" leads. You only have to think about the voltage going up for length beyond that.

You should still put a good quality (minimum let-through voltage) type-3 surge protector at the outlets where you have expensive electronics. That's the 2-tiered approach the manufacturers recommend. The whole-house unit on its own should be enough to protect your appliances. And it should keep any major surges from blowing your type-3 protectors to bits.

The manufacture will tell you what the let-through voltage is at the device and the installed lead length will give you an estimate of the actual let-through voltage.

For those who would like more information Whole House SPD's, you can read Eaton’s guide to surge suppression.

On Page 18, Eaton states Approximately 80% of recorded surges are due to internal switching transients caused by turning on/off motors, transformers, photocopiers or other loads. Externally generated surges due to induced lightning, grid switching or from adjacent buildings account for the remaining recorded surges.

So a multi-layer approach is recommended

On Page 21, Eaton discusses lead length. Most people don't consider lead length and many electricians are mainly concerned with how well something is routed i.e. 3 or 4 feet of wiring is not a problem as long as the routing is nice. I think it's great if one can have 12" of lead length but many people have around 18 or more inches and each installation is different. Until someone actually looks (usually means hiring an electrician) they won't know and unless the electrician is knowledgeable and up to date with the national code and the code in their jurisdiction you may not get the desired results.

As for Type 3 Surge protectors if the SPD relies on an MOV it's merely diverting the surge giving it new life and a chance to damage something else. Series Mode slow the surge down and store the energy in capacitors bleeding it onto the Neutral wire 2 volts at a time where it can no longer damage any electronics. Advanced Series Mode or Total Surge Cancellation takes this a step further providing 0 let through voltage.

We placed a Series Mode on our fridge and were fine. Our two neighbors were not but now they have a Series Mode filter on their refrigerators. Much of this depends on what part of the country you live in as well and the quality of the power in your area and the types of loads and wiring you have in your home. We're not known for having thunder showers/storms like parts of Florida have but we get enough lightning shows in a given year.

We also use an outdoor antenna for TV and have an SPD that uses a combination of MOV's and a GDT (Gas Discharge Tube) to it's own Ground Rod (which is also per code connected to the ground rod on the mains panel).

 

[T0paz]

My Siemens unit is rated at 600v let-through voltage on all three poles, with 12" leads.

What is the model number of the Siemens Whole House SPD that you have?

 

[hutt132]

I always had a small amount of speaker hiss (elevated noise floor) when I turn the volume up on my Denon x4700h receiver.
But once I put my receiver AND two subwoofers on my ZeroSurge, the hiss is almost completely gone now.

I always thought power conditioners were snake oil, but it seems the EMI/RFI filtering on these surge protectors removed the small amount of hiss for me and thus lowed the noise floor.

 

[Room_101]

Home's Single Point Earth Ground
Lastly, all of this won't matter if the single point earth ground for you home has a high impedance (not a good ground point) for your main electrical service panel (typically located on the side of your home where your meter is at). Depending on you local building code, earth ground is typically provided by two 8ft ground rods bonded together at least 6ft apart, or by utilizing electrodes in your foundation (UFER ground). If you are on sandy soil like I was, an UFER ground is not effective enough and will cause surge issues if not done correctly. Code permitting, I recommend at least TWO 10ft ground rods spaced 20ft apart, bonded together with #4 copper wire, with the first rod being less than 8ft from the main service panel (where it connects the ground of your house). Based on how the earth's soil is charged, the theory is to have the distance between the rods be at least the sum of the length of both rods. You can have them closer, but they won't be as effective.


... Also have them inspect your single point earth ground. Find one that is able to measure the impedance of it, as not every electrician has the fancy device to measure this for ground rods. A lot of electricians are cocky, so if they have no idea what you're talking about or won't inspect your earth ground connection, find someone who actually cares about earth grounding. If you are still having surge issues with a whole home surge protector, either your earth ground is not good, or you have another wire (coaxial) coming into your house that isn't protected. ...

I'm planning to have a Type 2 SPD installed at my breaker box. Could you shed a bit more light on this issue of proper earth grounding. I'm pretty ignorant about electricity. I've read at least one other source echoing what you wrote about the importance of a good earth ground connection to the breaker box. However, Mike Holt says earth ground is completely irrelevant to SPD effectiveness (from 25:58 to the end:

). Is he wrong? Am I misunderstanding something?

... the FIRST thing you should do for surge protector is have a whole home Type 1 or 2 SPD installed on BOTH phases of your main service entrance panel.

Does this mean you need 2 SPDs installed at the panel, or can one SPD be installed across both phases? (Sorry if this is a dumb question - again, I'm not very knowledgeable about electricity.)

Thanks!!

 

[Speedskater]

A low impedance connection to Planet Earth is mostly for safety during thunderstorms or high voltage accidents.
It's also to keep the Neutral at about the same potential as the swimming pool.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
It has nothing to do with day-to-day AC power quality.

 

[amirm]

I'm planning to have a Type 2 SPD installed at my breaker box. Could you shed a bit more light on this issue of proper earth grounding. I'm pretty ignorant about electricity. I've read at least one other source echoing what you wrote about the importance of a good earth ground connection to the breaker box. However, Mike Holt says earth ground is completely irrelevant to SPD effectiveness (from 25:58 to the end:

The issue is usual confusion about what "ground" means. At your service entrance, you have a protective earth "ground." That is the ground I am talking about in my writing. In a whole house surge protector, this connect needs to remain short otherwise the "let through" voltage surge can rise. I think Mike Holt is talking about the ground connection in your building/home. If everything is working well, the surge will find the protect earth ground and shunt the current that way. And by doing so, there is little impact on the ground in your building.

On the other hand, surge protectors in the building, say on an outlet/power strip, will dump the surge onto the building ground and with it, distribute the surge throughout the house. The series surge protectors such as what is reviewed here, avoid this.

Bottom line, keep the connections to the whole house surge protectors by the service entrance/breaker panel as short as possible.

 

[amirm]

I always thought power conditioners were snake oil, but it seems the EMI/RFI filtering on these surge protectors removed the small amount of hiss for me and thus lowed the noise floor.

That may have just changed the nature of ground currents between your equipment resulting in lower noise. In other words, that may be by chance.

 

[hutt132]

I'm planning to have a Type 2 SPD installed at my breaker box. Could you shed a bit more light on this issue of proper earth grounding. I'm pretty ignorant about electricity. I've read at least one other source echoing what you wrote about the importance of a good earth ground connection to the breaker box. However, Mike Holt says earth ground is completely irrelevant to SPD effectiveness (from 25:58 to the end:

). Is he wrong? Am I misunderstanding something?



Does this mean you need 2 SPDs installed at the panel, or can one SPD be installed across both phases? (Sorry if this is a dumb question - again, I'm not very knowledgeable about electricity.)

Thanks!!

As amirm mentioned, there's a bunch of different electrical terms that refer to different types of "ground". I think mike holt was saying the equipment ground doesn't matter much for SPDs, but the SPD still needs to be able to shunt the surge to your GEC.

Your grounding electrode conductor (GEC) from your electrical service entrance (usually your meter panel) is connected to a ground rod or whatever you home uses for an earth electrode. If you have a standalone meter panel, the meter panel then feeds your main load center/breaker panel where your main disconnect is and where your neutral and ground are bonded together. This is where your Type 1/2 SPD can be installed so it can shunt a surge to the GEC. They typically protect both Legs/phases if the SPD leads are connected to a double pole beaker or you have an SPD that slots directly into 2 breaker slots.

If you have a load center/panel with your main disconnect upstream of this breaker box, I'd install an SPD there instead and ideally at both.

 

[Speedskater]

AC power line surges and noise do not go into Planet Earth and disappear!
They return to their source, which is that big power company transformer down the street.

 

[hutt132]

AC power line surges and noise do not go into Planet Earth and disappear!
They return to their source, which is that big power company transformer down the street.

If a surge comes in on Line conductor, the SPD will shunt it to neutral and it will flow back to the transformer instead of into the ground electrode at the home?
What if the surge comes in on the Neutral conductor, does the SPD shunt it to the Line conductor and back to the transformer?

EDIT: It seems it does both go back on the neutral and "go into Planet Earth and disappear".

In systems where the neutral and ground are bonded at the main service panel, a shunted surge from an SPD can indeed travel both to the home's grounding electrode and the neutral conductor back to the transformer.

1. Neutral-Ground Bonding: In a typical residential electrical system, the neutral and ground are bonded at the main service panel. This means they are electrically connected at this point, providing a common reference point for the system.
2. SPD Shunting Surge: When an SPD activates in response to a surge, it provides a low-resistance path for the surge current. Depending on the design of the SPD and the configuration of the electrical system, this path can include:
   • Direct Path to Ground: The SPD may shunt the surge current directly to the grounding electrode system (e.g., ground rods, metal water pipes), which dissipates the energy into the earth.
   • Path to Neutral: The surge current can also flow through the neutral conductor due to the bond between neutral and ground at the main service panel.
3. Distribution of Surge Current:
   • Ground Electrode: Some of the surge current will flow into the home's grounding electrode system, where it is dissipated into the earth.
   • Neutral Conductor: Some of the surge current will travel along the neutral conductor back to the transformer. Since the neutral is grounded at both the main service panel and the transformer, this provides another path for the surge current.
4. Flow of Surge Current: The distribution of the surge current between the ground electrode and the neutral conductor depends on several factors, including the relative impedances of these paths. Typically, the current will split according to the principle of parallel circuits, with more current flowing through the lower impedance path.
5. Role of the Transformer: At the transformer, the neutral is typically grounded again. This means the surge current that traveled through the neutral conductor can also be dissipated into the earth at this point.