I installed one of these the other day:

http://www.intermatic.com/?action=prod&pid=339

You install it at the breaker panel and it protects the entire house from power surges.

It will protect every outlet in the house because it starts right where power enters the house at the panel.

I bought the Intermatic because it was clearanced at Home Depot. I saved alot of money on it.

There are other manufacturers and they're all probably just as good as the next.

FYI.

DT.

 

Interesting.........how much do they run?

 

Thats pretty cool...

 

You can find this one for ~$55-$80 on the web, which is around the cost of a single good surge suppressing power strip.

I'm still using all my other suppressors for an extra layer of protection but the house suppressor carries a $10,000.00 guarentee if it fails to protect everything in your home from a surge.

What's especially good about the house-wide one is that it'll protect all your appliances as well, which nowadays all have some kind of sensitive digital components in them.

Like new dishwashers, fridges, freezers, stoves, AC units, etc.

All vulnerable electrical devices, even the ones you couldn't plug into a surge suppressor even if you wanted to because they're directly wired.

120VAC-240VAC...everything...

Good idea IMO.

DT.

 

What about the phone and cable tv wires? Whats protecting that?

 

you ever consider they are on clearance for a reason?

 

You can buy another model for the phone line protection, etc.

I did wonder why they were clearanced and asked. The reason, the friendly technical help at Home Depot couldn't reliably explain to potential customers how to do the install, so they don't carry it any longer. Maybe too much liability? I dunno.

They are sold all over the web, and they are UL approved, etc. Even GE makes them.

But Intermatic is a good company and I got mine dirt cheap. The sales clerk at HD tried to stash it under a bunch of stuff on a different shelf and I had to ask him 3-4 times just to get him to show it to me. He wanted to get it himself when the price dropped even more. I literally had to get a manager to go get it off the shelf and scan it for me.

But don't take my word for it.

DYODD.

DT.