Power conditioning / surge protection

Richard Grey, Shunyata, ESP, Marsh (Monster) and The Cable Company all told me that if your house is hit by lightning, it comes in through the ground and they have no way of stopping it.

Add to that list Brickwall as well, based on first-hand experience. It did not prevent damage to component. (And scared the crap out of me when it hit!)

"That is correct.
If a company says their SPD will protect your audio equipment from a direct lightning strike I suggest reading the small fine print."

Thats a good point too. Making a line conditioner that can't hold up to a lightning strike is not something that a company wants to admit. In defence, though, most of the good companies that offer a guarantee, have a policy in place to back it up. You do have to read the fine print, but its likely that you will be asked to to submit documents like the Dec page of your HO policy, pictures, sales receipts, etc. Basically, they are acting like an insurance company. They're willing to bet that the sale of their conditioners should easily offset any damage to components that they end up paying out. Its a model that does work for them. Personally, the only issue I have with the whole thing is that they should be more upfront about this. Customers may never read the fine print and most retailers will not bring this up during a sale (if they even know). Its very easy to see how a customer can overlook this.

Hi Zd542. It has been observed that some products have protected against "direct hits". Don't forget that a now old trick is to lift the ground when making conditioning devices as a lot more noise comes in thru the ground than is generally appreciated. MIT did this almost 20 years ago. Cheeers. I think AC treatment will remain a investment for the foreseeable.

Ptss,

I have attended several Power Quality and Surge Protection seminars over the years. Proper grounding was always mentioned as being the most important. Not once was lifting the ground said to be good for power quality or surge protection. Especially not good for surges caused by near by lightning strikes.

Food for thought.... The electrical service neutral conductor is intentionally connected to earth at the main service. ( The Grounded Conductor)
So much for lifting the ground.

Poor earth grounding and or improper earth grounding is the biggest cause of electronic equipment damage from surges due to near by lightning strikes.

if you shield your equipment with your azz, you will protect it from direct lightning strike.