Surge protectors--how many $ make sense?

@rfagon

UL Listed is for complete products. UL Recognized (U and Reversed R) is for “recognized components” that have been subjected to testing limited by their conditions of acceptability". The individual MoVs are generally recognized since they do not have an enclosure or NEC compatible connection to the mains.

I was a UL product safety engineer and did some work on TVSS in the late 80s. Spent most of my UL engineering career testing and certifying SMPS and electrical medical devices for safety.

@rfagon Clamping voltage is a single dimensional specification, It means very little unless the clamping time is also specified. In the case of SquareD, their whole house surge protectors have a clamping time of 4-6 nanoseconds. When you consider that a single 60 Hz cycle is 175,000 times longer, you begin to understand how very effective they are in the real world. That said, the Environmental Potentials products are the real deal, and engineered (and priced) accordingly to their higher performance. The EP-HPS at $2400 isn't cheap, but their lack of pretense about their products is very appealing.

My experience is a two-fold approach 

1. Whole house surge protector 

2. Shunyata denali and Alpha v2 NR cables. The difference in sound (or more specifically lack of sound and noise) was noticeable to me. It also has a mechanical surge protector 

I view this as performance enhancing and protection 

Eric Squires: How much audible noise does the Furman P 1800 AR make during normal operation? When it’s operating under heavy current loads or correcting voltage imbalances? 

How much heat does it generate?