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House surge suppressor installed at the meter

It has been posted that installing a whole house suppresor at the electric meter by the energy provider can protect your house from a lightning hit.
I tried to get more info on the thread but wasn't successful it was a little off the thread topic.

So, I thought a seperate thread with that topic would be useful.
It seems to me that with all the money I have invested in my Audio system if this would really protect it, it would be worth it.

However, I have never heard of such a unit being available.

Can anyone provide more info?
Such as,
1. has anyone had a unit like this installed ?
2. What are the claims for protectiom ?
3. Price.
128x128ozzy
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,685 posts
 
1. Yup. Many of us have done so. Check the posts of Chu Gai on this topic on AVSforum for lots of info.

2. Basically, the effectiveness of redirecting a surge depends on having a relatively low impedance path to ground. Putting the device at the box, puts it as close to the main ground as one can.
3. From about $100 up.

Kal
rushton's avatar
rushton
2,445 posts
 
After looking around quite a bit and trying to understand the various specifications, I had my electrician install an APC PMP2X panel mount surge suppressor at the house breaker panel. It has one of the higher energy ratings at 2690 joules and 1ns surge response time, but still at a reasonably affordable price. There are other options, also, such as the Square D "Surgebreaker Plus" unit.

The power company would love to install one for you and charge you on a monthly basis in perpetuity.

Keep in mind that none of these are capable of diverting a direct lighting strike. Also, most of my reading recommended also using local surge protectors on computer and other electronic gear that would trigger at a lower surge level than the whole house unit will trigger.
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