More on Surge Suppressor

A couple other tech toys you might not have known you desperately needed are line conditioners and an uninterrupted power supply (UPS). A line conditioner adjusts the line voltage to a norm, getting rid of highs and lows. This is a good piece of equipment to have if your home electrical system has a regular case of the sags. A UPS is basically a sophisticated battery pack with various filtering properties that kick in when you have a power outage. The key word here is “battery.” You don’t want to be running your laser printer or copying machine off of this if you lose power. Use it for your computer, not the peripherals.
Surge suppressors come with a few guidelines as well, just like extension cords. These guidelines include …

• Don’t go beyond the electrical rating of the suppressor.
• Surge suppressors are designed for indoor use in dry areas.
• Don’t plug the suppressor into an extension cord.
• Keep children and pets away from the suppressor’s power cord.
• Suppressors are not designed to be used with aquariums.

Some available systems offer protection starting at your home’s meter. A suppressor is installed near the electric meter, and it protects major appliances from surges and lightning strikes. Standard plug-in suppressors are installed inside your home for more sensitive equipment. The Square D company manufactures an inexpensive surge suppressor that mounts directly in the service panel like a two-pole breaker.

Some considerations before you purchase surge suppressors

If you must wade, here are some considerations before you purchase:

• The suppressor should have at least a UL 1449-330-volt let-through rating (the lowest amount of voltage the suppressor allows to pass through). This is basically a safety rating. A higher rating, UL Adjunct Endurance Testing, meets tougher government Commercial Item Description (CID) Class, Grade, and Mode specifications.
• Telephone line, fax line, and coaxial cable line protection should be provided. ➤ It should have a high joule rating. (This measures your suppressor’s capability to absorb energy, which is measured in joules.)
• It should have high surge amp ratings.
• The suppressor should have an indicator light to show that the device is working.
• It should provide protection in all three modes (surges between hot, neutral, and ground lines).
• It should have instantaneous response time.
• The unit should shut off power to all of its outlets once the unit has reached its capacity to protect.
• It should offer a broad degree of EMI/RFI noise reduction. Competing claims among surge-suppressor manufacturers start sounding like taunts between opposing cliques in the schoolyard.

It begins to sound like the Macintosh versus PC battle. My advice? I’d still buy the suppressor with the best guarantee for my price range. Any damage to your equipment or data then becomes the manufacturer’s problem. (Read the guarantee carefully.)

Warranty for Surge Suppressors

If you search the Web for surge suppressors or go into a computer store, you’ll be surprised at how many manufacturers have the absolutely best product available. They can’t even agree on the best criteria to judge suppressors. What’s a consumer to do? Simple: Pick the suppressor with the best warranty. Such a warranty will guarantee the following:

• Repair or replacement of the suppressor and any connected equipment for life if the suppressor fails to protect against surges
• Payment for the retrieval of lost data
• A high maximum dollar amount for damages This kind of guarantee doesn’t come as cheaply as a less-inclusive one, but it does make choosing a suppressor a lot easier than wading through the claims and manufacturers’ specifications.

Computers Aren’t Very Tough

We can replace a television or an answering machine quite easily, but it’s not so easy to retrieve lost data on a hard drive after a surge or spike hits the old PC. The worst-case scenarios, at least as presented by various surge-suppressor manufacturers, include …

• Losing any data in memory.
• Possible damage to the file allocation table because the computer would not have been shut down properly.
• The stress of regular, unnoticed surges gradually deteriorating your computer’s components.
• Sags causing a system crash and the possible loss of data.
• A strong spike frying your PC.

If you live in an area of frequent storms or windy weather that might cause your power to go out, a surge suppressor should be higher up on your birthday wish list than if storms are infrequent. Nevertheless, given our creeping dependence on computers and stored data, a surge suppressor is a good idea wherever you are. (Sorting through all the competing claims by different manufacturers is another issue altogether.)

Surge-Suppression Devices

Electricity is like human relationships: It has its peaks, its low points, and a lot of time in between when it just muddles through without causing much excitement. Left to its own devices, it probably would muddle through day in and day out, but we (and a lightning storm or two) interfere and cause surges and spikes. What are they? Simply put, they are increases, usually sudden, in electrical voltage. Surges differ from spikes in part by how they occur.
Surges can result from …

• The energy demand when a large appliance is first turned on.
• Routine maintenance and switching by your utility company.
• The rush of current to your house after power that was cut off is turned on again. Spikes, on the other hand, most often are caused by lightning or by cars running into power poles. Spikes can send as much as 6,000 volts down your line.

A surge is apparent when you turn on a garbage disposer or a laundry-room appliance. The appliance requires a surge of power to get rolling. This is the same principle behind moving a stationary body: The initial force or power required is greater than the amount needed to sustain movement. The first few pushes you give your kids on a swing require more energy than later ones after momentum has been established.