Are surge protectors a waste of money?

John24 · 24 May 2010 at 11:21

I was wondering the same thing myself, I recently bought a 6 gang individually switched power strip, it's good being able to switch individual devices off without haveing to unplug them. It doesn't have surge protection though and finding one that does which also has individual switches was very difficult.

After reading this whole thread I don't see any major reasons for or against.

It's interesting to learn that the surge protection has a limited life span though, I did not know that. For me that alone makes them a waste of time, what's the point of using them if there is no way of knowing when they fall back to a normal power strip! Whether they actually offer any protection at any level or not!

For me, the fact that surge protection generally isn't available on the individually switched 6 gang strips and the fact that there is no way of telling when the surge protection is spent means I won't be bothering with surge protected strips anymore. The extra cost and inconvenience just is'nt worth it for what seems to be little to no protection.

Fars · 24 May 2010 at 14:06

I've always used very good ones.

But to be realistic I don't believe they do much, have had a friend and relative individually lose all their phones in the house and have a laptop and desktop melt via the network connections.

I think the attraction for me is the nicer looking 4/6/8 gang splitter.

MoRT489 · 24 May 2010 at 14:46

Wow, this thread is a thoroughly good read! The conclusion I have drawn after reading at least 90% of what is written is that i wont bother with surge protectors or UPS - cheap ones due to the risk of fire or expensive ones as they dont protect against big surges and the power in my area seems steady without small surges anyway. I may one day get full house protector.

Alex it would be useful to update the OP once you have reached a final conclusion

Relentless81 · 24 May 2010 at 14:50

I've always had a decent Belkin, i'd rather have one and not need it than need it and not have one

alex24 · 24 May 2010 at 14:56

creed said:
Alex it would be useful to update the OP once you have reached a final conclusion

Indeed it would, so far I only have an interpretation of what others have written here, there seems to still be a large amount of disagreement that I've still got to get my head around. Non the less, it makes for an interesting read. Once I've finished my exams I'll put all the relevant info into the OP and my understanding of it.

nex20 · 23 Jul 2010 at 14:12

I got a surge protector because when I didn't have one I got a shiny new power supply blown up!

alex24 · 23 Jul 2010 at 14:34

nex20 said:
I got a surge protector because when I didn't have one I got a shiny new power supply blown up!

By a surge? I assume other more sensitive equipment in the house was damaged too then?

Phil2008 · 23 Jul 2010 at 14:36

well Im very cautious now cos I had a pc died in a thunderstorm about 10yrs ago. Their was a almighty crack of thunder, the mains power tripped off, and when we turned on the mains power, my pc was dead when I pressed the power.. So would you say a surge protector or ups would have saved my pc back then?

Now my pc is infront of a surge protector and a 1200va ups.

dbmzk1 · 25 Jul 2010 at 13:58

A surge protector will not and cannot protect against a lightening strike. That's not what they are for.

Phil2008 · 25 Jul 2010 at 14:45

So they are just to look pretty then? cos normal house surges wont damage stuff

Phil2008 · 25 Jul 2010 at 14:48

nothing will protect you from a direct strike no,, but from a distance maybe??

westom · 25 Jul 2010 at 21:39

Phil2008 said:
nothing will protect you from a direct strike no,, but from a distance maybe??

Which is why telephone service is lost for four days everywhere in town as they replace their computer. COs (telephone switching centers) connected to overhead wires all over town suffer at least 100 surges with each thunderstorm. As Phil2008 proves, your town is routinely without phone service for four days.

Munitions dumps routinely explode due to thunderstorms. Again, nothing can protect from direct strikes. Another, without any supporting facts or numbers, said it is so. Therefore it must be true.,

The Empire State Building suffers about 23 direct lightning strikes annually. Therefore most NYC FM and TV stations are off the air for hours or days while they replace their electronics. We were told it is so. Therefore it must be true.

Or one can learn the science that was well understood for over 100 years. A direct lightning strike to every appliance is a lightning strike to AC wires down the street. Either that energy harmlessly dissipates outside the building (ie 'whole house' protector). Or that energy goes hunting for earth inside the building - destructively via electronics. Those are the only two choices. Choose to be scammed by retail myths. Or upgrade earthing also using one ‘whole house’ protector. The superior and well proven solution costs about 1 pound per protected appliance.

sturmtruppe · 8 Dec 2010 at 22:57

Your more likely to loose components due to fluctuations in the national grid.

If your in a room with the light on for instance, and somone in another part of the house turns the kettle on, the light will dim for a few seconds until the power imbalance is stablised by drawing in more elec from the grid. The same happens whem the kettle is switched off, but in reverse.

Now imagine if, lets say you live at the top of your street and the main power line were to explode outside the next house down. Your entire road is without power except for your house, your going to experience a major surge for a few seconds.

Thats when you need the surge protector most.

The thing is, this is happening all the time nationally. The grid has to provide more/less power according to peak/off peak times. So your experiencing numerous minor surges by the day which is going to shorten the life span of your electronics.

I grabbed a six way belkin one for £15. For saying i get a high standard unit with a heavy duty cable and well spaced sockets for adapters and protection from surges and lightning spikes, i think its money well spent.

garyfl · 8 Dec 2010 at 23:17

always used one, we got a lightning strike hit the sky dish, sent surges through house, theres 2 plug holes on my wall, 1 was connected to a lava lamp, it blew the bulb, the other plughole was connected to my surge protector, which connected to pc, monitor, mixind desk, etc they were completely unharmed, surge protector simply shut off power.

pc was saved.

kinda gutting then a week later, when, i plug my phone in to charge and blew the usb, sending a shock which was lethal to the motherboard, 7 month without a pc

nod now i have the one in sig, wouldnt EVER not use a surge protector, saved me once should save me twice.

westom · 9 Dec 2010 at 07:59

sturmtruppe said:
Your more likely to loose components due to fluctuations in the national grid.

If your in a room with the light on for instance, and somone in another part of the house turns the kettle on, the light will dim for a few seconds until the power imbalance is stablised by drawing in more elec from the grid. The same happens whem the kettle is switched off, but in reverse. [\QUOTE]
That dimming must never happen with proper (minimally sufficient) wiring. Dimming implies a wiring defect exists. The resulting low voltage is perfectly normal for all electronic appliances.

Dimming is not a surge. Dimming is low voltage – a brownout. A surge protector ignores everything (remains inert) until voltage exceeds 500 volts. Obviously, a protector does nothing for a brownout.

Surges are, for example, when a 33,000 volt wire falls on local distribution. Then electric meters exploded 10 meters from so many buildings. Those who foolishly had power strip protectors then had damaged electronics and blown power strips. At least one had serious damage in his power board.

My friend knows someone who actually knows this stuff. He had only one 'whole house' protector properly earthed. His electric meter was also damaged. No other damage from that 33,000 volt surge.

Voltage fluctuations can be harmful to a refrigerator or furnace. Normal power for all electronics is when lights dim to 50% intensity.

Appliances such as the dishwasher and air conditioner are at risk due to large fluctuations. Only wild speculation hypes a surge protector to protect from brownouts. Hearsay also claims electronics are harmed those brownouts. Nonsense.

garyfl had damage because he did not upgrade his earthing connected only to one 'whole house' protector. Once surge energy is inside a house, well, where is the plug-in protector spec that claims protection? Never existed. Never posted. Question is never answered. No protector does effective protection once that surge energy is permitted inside.

How does a 2 cm part inside that power strip stop what three kilometers of sky could not. It must. Others say so. So it must. Nonsense. His damage is becausehe permitted destructive energy to go hunting inside. Damage that would have occured with or without an unearthed protector.