Lightning and surge protection worth is

M

Mimen

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I'm about to have 2 things installed to protect my house against lightning strike damage.

ADSL protector with four ways power
Singe phase DB board protection

The question is, is it worth spending 2 and a half thousand bucks on it?
 
Mimen said:
I'm about to have 2 things installed to protect my house against lightning strike damage.

ADSL protector with four ways power
Singe phase DB board protection

The question is, is it worth spending 2 and a half thousand bucks on it?
Click to expand...

Doubt you'll get much protection for R2,500.
 
I have insurance yes but, 2015 only I had to claim for stolen kindle and tablet, then a liquid damaged laptop. Then, on top of it all due to a lighting strike, a TV, amplifier and adsl router. I'm afraid of being blacklisted or something.
 
Mimen said:
I have insurance yes but, 2015 only I had to claim for stolen kindle and tablet, then a liquid damaged laptop. Then, on top of it all due to a lighting strike, a TV, amplifier and adsl router. I'm afraid of being blacklisted or something.
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I don't bother with small claims, rather than have a history of regular small claims.
 
Not worth spending a penny on !!!

If it strikes your house and pole, everything will be toast. Info from my best mate who has 35 years with Eskom HT department.
 
dunkyd said:
Not worth spending a penny on !!!

If it strikes your house and pole, everything will be toast. Info from my best mate who has 35 years with Eskom HT department.
Click to expand...

If something that has a few million volts/amps hits your house, not much you can do. Just make sure everything is earthed properly. TV antennas etc
 
Funny how when the lightning strikes its always the phone/router that gets hit, never on the power circuit.
 
Mimen said:
I'm about to have 2 things installed to protect my house against lightning strike damage.

ADSL protector with four ways power
Singe phase DB board protection

The question is, is it worth spending 2 and a half thousand bucks on it?
Click to expand...
2.5k to lightening proof? lol

No nothing is lightening proof. The only way to defend against it is a lightening pole - but even then why don't you just unplug everything? It takes a couple seconds and you can read a weather forecast before you leave home.


biometrics said:
Ask this guy, he seems to know what he's talking about: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/member.php/83366-westom

From what I gather that is the current seeking earth exit.
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Yep, it's easer for the lightening to be earthed along lines that are fundamentally earthed - phones and electric gates are "easy" paths
 
We sit on a granite intrusion in north joburg which is a magnet for strikes. The only thing that I swear by having tried many options and designs from electrical engineers is fitment of a Raycap Strikesorb 30 or higher on the electrical and the use of an astraphobe on the adsl/tel line.
 
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Thanks everyone for the advice. I also read up on it a bit and it seems futile to install lightning protection.
 
Just remember you are not protecting against a direct strike but inductive loads or other surges.
 
Definitely worth the money. R2.5k is similar to some new basic kit but the pain to find, replace and configure new kit is excluded. I use Clearline's kit - 40kA arrestors in the DB and proper integrated power/telecoms line. So far I have not lost a modem yet but just to be sure I use a cheap modem (tp link or Dlink) with an Ethernet isolator between the modem and the router.

Still I unplug if I notice lightning in the vicinity.
 
Mimen said:
Thanks everyone for the advice. I also read up on it a bit and it seems futile to install lightning protection.
Click to expand...
Protection from direct lightning is routine. But you are making mistakes from the beginning. You seek a 'magic box' as a solution. And somehow believe protection is about 'blocking' or 'absorbing' a surge.

Read many previous discussions. It applies to you. Especially grasp a paper from the AT&T forum.

Another had similar geology. Geology defines both risks and solutions. He solved his problem using same principles already described here previously:
http://scott-inc.com/html/ufer.htm

If you still cannot say what defines and does protection, then these well proven concepts are completely new. Anything that is new usually requires at least three rereads to comprehend. If 'contaminated' by popular urban myths, more rereads may be needed to unlearn deceptive recommendations such as other destructive appliances (ie inductive loads).
 
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@ Mimen - its definitely not futile to install lightning protection. I would agree with what etwylite posted and definitely go for some protection on the db board. As others have noted, normally the damaging spikes from lightning come in via the phone line. Mains power is quite resistant to lightning induced surges, due to the protection on them, and the multiple step downs from cross country HT all the way to the transformer in your street, all with protection / proper earthing built in. But there are other sources of surges on mains, and its much better to take a more comprehensive approach. Cost benefit in my opinion is good. Just make sure when doing this that you have a good, proper earth.

I am from the company that manufactures the Astraphobe, so obviously biased, but I would also put an Astraphobe on the incoming adsl / phone line. That's where 99.9% of your problems will originate. As many have noted, its best to unplug when there is a storm, but there are too many scenarios where you would not be there to unplug, or you forget, or the storm comes up at 3AM when you sleeping etc etc. Quite simply, the astraphobe monitors for storms, tracks them and unplugs your line when the storm is close. Reconnects afterward, so fully automatic.

@ etwylite - thanks for recommendation :)
 
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