Re: Surge protectors to use with home electronics when grounding is not available?
- From: bud-- <remove.budnews@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:07:46 -0500
ehsjr wrote:
d_dd22222@xxxxxxxxx wrote:..I am moving into a home which was built in the late 1800s where
brownouts are common and no grounds are available on the outlets. I
will not have the option of rewiring the home.
Does anyone have suggestions as to how I can best protect my home
electronics (computers, entertainment center, etc).
Throw "best" out the window.
Some things you can do: use fiber optic telephone and television
service.
I don't think insurance will be honored when there is no ground,
but I don't know for sure. Same thing for the warrantees on
point of use protectors.
I've seen plenty of "surge protectors" which look like they are more
marketing hype than anything else. What are your opinions on these?
IEEE recommends point of use protectors in conjunction with
whole house protection, so at least some point of use protectors
are good. But you can't follow the IEEE recommendation, which is
why you have to throw "best" out the window. Without ground,
you _cannot_ correctly assume that your equipment is protected
from surges, unless it is completely disconnected from places
where the surges can get in - mains, tv leadin, telephone
wires etc.
I agree with all of that.
Add a ground to a few receptacles?
Most commonly damaged equipment has connections to both power and signal (phone, cable) wires.
Wireless router for computer phone? The router is at risk, but the computer does not connect to both power and phone wires.
Add a service panel suppressor? Not obvious if that is an option.
Phone and cable entry protectors should connect with a short 'ground' wire to the earthing wire at the power service. A lot of surge protection is keeping the power/phone/cable wires at about the same voltage (even though that voltage may wind up thousands of volts above 'absolute' ground for an instant). That requires a short wire.
Check that the power service is connected to an earthing electrode. Probably the water pipe if the water service has at least 10 ft metal in the ground. Maybe a ground rod.
Plug-in suppressors can provide protection but can shift the ground potential at the suppressor. Without a power 'ground' wire that can be a problem. All interconnected equipment needs to connect to the same suppressor. External wires, like cable and phone, also have to go through the suppressor. I would be nervous running cable and phone wires through a suppressor that does not have a power ground.
Equipment connected through a 'wall wart' is generally fairly well protected.
All of this is surge protection and provides no protection from brownouts.
--
bud--
.
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