If you were Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
|
Posted by the mango on July 2, 2006, 3:38 pm
Hello,
Anyone have any good advice on having a lightning protection system
installed on a home circuit breaker panel?
Is it worth the money and how good does it really work?
Thanks for any advice,
Jeff
|
|
Posted by chuckster on July 2, 2006, 5:45 pm
You never know how good a lightning protector is UNTIL you really need
it. You can get the "puck" units for your panel. MY suggestion is to
install surge protectors on all electronic appliances (computers,
stereos, tv's, etc) along with the hard wired "panel puck". You can
never go overboard on lightning protection, for your home. The main
point here is to have a good ground system (less than 25 ohms) in the
house, water pipe, ground rod, and Ufer ground.
the mango wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Anyone have any good advice on having a lightning protection system
> installed on a home circuit breaker panel?
>
> Is it worth the money and how good does it really work?
>
> Thanks for any advice,
>
> Jeff
|
|
Posted by w_tom on July 2, 2006, 10:49 pm
A protector that will somehow stop or block what three miles of sky
did not is a myth. Effective protectors are: as in
http://www.telebyteusa.com/primer/ch6.htm
> Conceptually, lightning protection devices are switches to ground. Once
> a threatening surge is detected, a lightning protection device grounds
> the incoming signal connection point of the equipment being protected.
> Thus, redirecting the threatening surge on a path-of-least resistance
> (impedance) to ground where it is absorbed.
> Any lightning protection device must be composed of two "subsystems,"
> a switch which is essentially some type of switching circuitry and a
> good ground connection-to allow dissipation of the surge energy.
A protector is a connection to protection. A protector that does not
have that essential earthing wire AND that avoids discussion of
earthing really does not provide effective protection. Earthing
defines the protection.
To make a 'whole house' protector effective, building earth should
meet and exceed post 1990 earthing requirements. Without something to
shunt into, a protector provides insufficient protection. Furthermore,
that same earthing must be used by all incoming utilities. Even if
utilities are underground, they still require single point earth
ground. Otherwise destructive surges may enter a building to find
earth, destructively, via household appliances.
If using plug-in protectors, then install one for every appliance -
dishwasher, washing machine, clock radio, smoke detector, bathroom
GFCIs, etc. Or install a 'whole house' protector for superior
protection that is also tens of times less money per protected
appliance. But again, which one makes the 'less than 10 foot'
connection to earth.
Earthing determines a protector's effectiveness. 'Whole house'
protector already inside telephone interface box and ground block on
cable must also make a 'less than 10 foot' connection to the same earth
ground. Again, otherwise the transient may find earth destructively via
household appliances. Notice that effective protection does as Ben
Franklin also demonstrated in 1752. Like lightning rods, the protector
is only as effective as its earthing.
the mango wrote:
> ...
> Anyone have any good advice on having a lightning protection system
> installed on a home circuit breaker panel?
>
> Is it worth the money and how good does it really work?
|
|
Posted by w_tom on July 2, 2006, 10:51 pm
A protector that will somehow stop or block what three miles of sky
did not is a myth. Effective protectors are: as in
http://www.telebyteusa.com/primer/ch6.htm
> Conceptually, lightning protection devices are switches to ground. Once
> a threatening surge is detected, a lightning protection device grounds
> the incoming signal connection point of the equipment being protected.
> Thus, redirecting the threatening surge on a path-of-least resistance
> (impedance) to ground where it is absorbed.
> Any lightning protection device must be composed of two "subsystems,"
> a switch which is essentially some type of switching circuitry and a
> good ground connection-to allow dissipation of the surge energy.
A protector is a connection to protection. A protector that does not
have that essential earthing wire AND that avoids discussion of
earthing really does not provide effective protection. Earthing
defines the protection.
To make a 'whole house' protector effective, building earth should
meet and exceed post 1990 earthing requirements. Without something to
shunt into, a protector provides insufficient protection. Furthermore,
that same earthing must be used by all incoming utilities. Even if
utilities are underground, they still require single point earth
ground. Otherwise destructive surges may enter a building to find
earth, destructively, via household appliances.
If using plug-in protectors, then install one for every appliance -
dishwasher, washing machine, clock radio, smoke detector, bathroom
GFCIs, etc. Or install a 'whole house' protector for superior
protection that is also tens of times less money per protected
appliance. But again, which one makes the 'less than 10 foot'
connection to earth.
Earthing determines a protector's effectiveness. 'Whole house'
protector already inside telephone interface box and ground block on
cable must also make a 'less than 10 foot' connection to the same earth
ground. Again, otherwise the transient may find earth destructively via
household appliances. Notice that effective protection does as Ben
Franklin also demonstrated in 1752. Like lightning rods, the protector
is only as effective as its earthing.
the mango wrote:
> ...
> Anyone have any good advice on having a lightning protection system
> installed on a home circuit breaker panel?
>
> Is it worth the money and how good does it really work?
|
|
Posted by w_tom on July 2, 2006, 10:52 pm
A protector that will somehow stop or block what three miles of sky
did not is a myth. Effective protectors are: as in
http://www.telebyteusa.com/primer/ch6.htm
> Conceptually, lightning protection devices are switches to ground. Once
> a threatening surge is detected, a lightning protection device grounds
> the incoming signal connection point of the equipment being protected.
> Thus, redirecting the threatening surge on a path-of-least resistance
> (impedance) to ground where it is absorbed.
> Any lightning protection device must be composed of two "subsystems,"
> a switch which is essentially some type of switching circuitry and a
> good ground connection-to allow dissipation of the surge energy.
A protector is a connection to protection. A protector that does not
have that essential earthing wire AND that avoids discussion of
earthing really does not provide effective protection. Earthing
defines the protection.
To make a 'whole house' protector effective, building earth should
meet and exceed post 1990 earthing requirements. Without something to
shunt into, a protector provides insufficient protection. Furthermore,
that same earthing must be used by all incoming utilities. Even if
utilities are underground, they still require single point earth
ground. Otherwise destructive surges may enter a building to find
earth, destructively, via household appliances.
If using plug-in protectors, then install one for every appliance -
dishwasher, washing machine, clock radio, smoke detector, bathroom
GFCIs, etc. Or install a 'whole house' protector for superior
protection that is also tens of times less money per protected
appliance. But again, which one makes the 'less than 10 foot'
connection to earth.
Earthing determines a protector's effectiveness. 'Whole house'
protector already inside telephone interface box and ground block on
cable must also make a 'less than 10 foot' connection to the same earth
ground. Again, otherwise the transient may find earth destructively via
household appliances. Notice that effective protection does as Ben
Franklin also demonstrated in 1752. Like lightning rods, the protector
is only as effective as its earthing.
the mango wrote:
> ...
> Anyone have any good advice on having a lightning protection system
> installed on a home circuit breaker panel?
>
> Is it worth the money and how good does it really work?
|
Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 > last >>
| Similar Threads | Posted | | Breaker panel installed height | June 6, 2007, 9:10 am |
| Weather Protection (Paint) | May 30, 2007, 11:01 am |
| Flickering lights on one circuit | April 11, 2008, 3:27 pm |
| Tankless water heater circuit design... | October 26, 2007, 12:31 pm |
| OSB and siding panel (LP) resistance. | August 20, 2007, 3:22 pm |
| Rotate electrical panel? | February 25, 2008, 12:12 pm |
| Main Power Panel about face | July 15, 2006, 1:40 pm |
| Framing Recessed Electrical Panel | August 23, 2006, 6:50 pm |
| Distance from transformer to service panel/meter | October 28, 2006, 8:32 pm |
| FS/A: Friedrich QuietMaster Programmable Front Panel & Remote | August 21, 2006, 11:37 am |
|
|
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap