How to Select Surge Protectors for a Whole House Protection Plan

An effective plan consists of a primary surge protection device with secondary plug-in protectors. The main features required for both types of protectors are safety and performance.

Primary Protection

Protection for the home starts at your service entrance (where your electrical panelboard resides). A robust surge protection device needs to be installed either at your meter base or breaker panel. Minimum performance and safety features include:

• UL 1449 2nd Edition Listed
• Surge current ratings of between 40kA to 80kA per phase
• UL 1449 2nd Edition Suppressed Voltage Ratings (SVRs) for 120V systems between 330V and 400V.
• Modes of protection: Line to Neutral and Neutral to Ground or Line to Neutral, Line to Ground, and Neutral to Ground
• Status indicators

Secondary Protection

Plug-in protectors go to work inside your home to help guard against damage from high voltage surges passing through electric, telephone, and cable lines. We have listed plug-in type protectors per their specific application:

• Home Theater Plug-in Protector Features: 
  • Enough outlets to power all pieces of home theater equipment including TV, stereo, cable box, VCR, DVD, etc…
  • Cable TV line protection
  • Telephone line protection for satellite applications
• Home Office Plug-in Protector Features
  • Enough outlets to power all pieces of home theater equipment including Computer, monitor, printer, fax machine, etc…
  • Telephone line protection
• Single Outlet Protector applications
  • Microwave Oven
  • Garage Door Opener
  • Security System power protection

Applying primary and secondary surge protection devices will protect most of the equipment in the home. But equipment utilizing low-voltage wiring can be extremely difficult to protect. 

Examples include security and alarm systems, intercoms, electronic lawn sprinkler timers, low-voltage landscape lighting and outdoor speakers. Lightning-induced surges can flow back through the low-voltage wiring leading to the master control units and cause damage despite the presence of a primary and secondary surge protector at the power source. To provide surge protection at these locations, contact the equipment manufacturer for surge protection solutions. 

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