Surge Protected Power Strips... Has anyone actually properly solved this problem?

Could a malfunctioning device in the house cause a voltage spike in its death throws, microwaves have a few thousand volts in them? Are there internal and external threats?
 
clv101 said:
Wouldn't it be easier to put the surge protector in the consumer unit:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-type-2-surge-protection-device-40ka/587JH

That this isn't commonly done suggests it's not a common issue.
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It is possible for a surge from things like lightning to bypass the consumer unit i.e. coming via aerials, etc. - though if that is local then your average surge protector won't do much.

clv101 said:
Could a malfunctioning device in the house cause a voltage spike in its death throws, microwaves have a few thousand volts in them? Are there internal and external threats?
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I'm not entirely sure what I'm talking about but IMO in those situations you generally have very low current and no easy path for the voltage to get back to the mains short of maybe deliberately rigging something up - you probably wouldn't have enough energy for it to have any noticeable effect spread out over your household electronics before the power has dissipated.

You possibly could have poorly designed electronics with capacitors on the mains side do something bad but generally there isn't much power stored there (enough to electrocute someone directly mind).
 
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Rroff said:
It is possible for a surge from things like lightning to bypass the consumer unit i.e. coming via aerials, etc. - though if that is local then your average surge protector won't do much.
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Some 25 years ago our house was hit by lightening, no one in at the time. Blew the chimney and half the gable end off the house. Pretty lucky not to start a fire. The impact on the electronics was interesting, lots of stuff fine (no surge protectors anywhere). Some stuff dead, including the PSU but not the rest of the computer, and a few sockets literally exploded. Lots of shards of white plastic scattered around the room - don't think a consumer surge protector would have helped much in this situation.

Dog extremely unimpressed to have tiles and bricks come through the conservatory roof.
 
I like extension leads that don't have an LED light on as when I see the light shining I always think it's costing me leccy and have the urge to switch it off at the wall when nothing connected to it is being used.
 
clv101 said:
Some 25 years ago our house was hit by lightening, no one in at the time. Blew the chimney and half the gable end off the house. Pretty lucky not to start a fire. The impact on the electronics was interesting, lots of stuff fine (no surge protectors anywhere). Some stuff dead, including the PSU but not the rest of the computer, and a few sockets literally exploded. Lots of shards of white plastic scattered around the room - don't think a consumer surge protector would have helped much in this situation.

Dog extremely unimpressed to have tiles and bricks come through the conservatory roof.
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House down the road from us had that a few months back - fortunately the people renting it had moved out the week before - blew a massive hole in the house, shattered sockets, etc.

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news...templecombe-house-following-lightning-4238329

Bit of a concern around here as we are on exposed high ground and the electrics come in via overhead.

I'm not sure if it is the same strike but I have a recording of the thunder at the moment it happened https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4cLEXtIRXQ sounds like mostly cloud to cloud stuff but that was what the thunder was like when it happened - pretty decent rumble.
 
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