Also, in case anyone cares, these whole house surge arrestors have been around for decades. Most electricians don't think to offer them.
Household Surge Protectors - Good or Bad?
A few weeks ago I had a surge protector installed in my breaker panel.
It was a new variey I had not seen before, in that it took the place of two standard sizede breakers and connected to both phases of the breaker panel supply
Since then we’ve had had a couple of power outtages and all the household devices kept running upon power restoraton - so far so good :-)
This past week I had reason to disconnect power and speaker cables to loan to a friend for audition.
Afterwards I reconnected the power cables to the amp and powered up.
NOTE: the system is on a dedicated line - it’s breaker was not touched by the install
Immediately I noticed a hum from the amp, where previously there had been none - even at full volume with the phono stage selected.
After lots of analysis and testing, I remembered the installation of the Surge protector.
I measured the impedance between the ground and the neutral and found around 5 ohms of resistance.
To temporarily get over the hum I have connected the neutral side of the inputs to a common earth tap on the power distribution box - it has worked like a charm - i.e. until I can get the electrician back here to fix the real issue.
So my question:
- Is this just sloppy work? - I’m assuming that the neutral of the dedicated line was disconnected and not reconnected correctly, OR
- do ALL housewide surge protectors such as the one I have had instlaled always present with this problem?
Thanks for any feedback
It was a new variey I had not seen before, in that it took the place of two standard sizede breakers and connected to both phases of the breaker panel supply
Since then we’ve had had a couple of power outtages and all the household devices kept running upon power restoraton - so far so good :-)
This past week I had reason to disconnect power and speaker cables to loan to a friend for audition.
Afterwards I reconnected the power cables to the amp and powered up.
NOTE: the system is on a dedicated line - it’s breaker was not touched by the install
Immediately I noticed a hum from the amp, where previously there had been none - even at full volume with the phono stage selected.
After lots of analysis and testing, I remembered the installation of the Surge protector.
I measured the impedance between the ground and the neutral and found around 5 ohms of resistance.
To temporarily get over the hum I have connected the neutral side of the inputs to a common earth tap on the power distribution box - it has worked like a charm - i.e. until I can get the electrician back here to fix the real issue.
So my question:
- Is this just sloppy work? - I’m assuming that the neutral of the dedicated line was disconnected and not reconnected correctly, OR
- do ALL housewide surge protectors such as the one I have had instlaled always present with this problem?
Thanks for any feedback
- ...
- 19 posts total
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That is not how this type of surge protector is connected, if it is what I'm thinking of, like this model: https://www.alliedelec.com/square-d-qo2175sb/70060775/?mkwid=sUgs25dac&pcrid=30980760979&pkw... It's impossible to tell from the pic, but the surge protector itself takes 2 spots. In this way it is just like a 2-pole breaker. It connects directly to both phases with no interceding breakers. There is a tail to be attached to the panel's neutral. In short, there is no breaker on the protector, and no breaker that is assigned to power the protector either. Should the surge protector itself short the panel's main breaker will have to trip. There's no way for a homeowner to "turnt it off" short of removing the panel cover and pulling it off the panel. Best, E |
- 19 posts total