Installing a Whole Home Surge Protector

TE/1C40 Whole Home panel surge protector

If you are familiar with basic electrical wiring then installing a Whole home panel surge protector is a relatively simple task. But, be warned that most product warranties, like the surgeassure™ product warranty, require that a qualified electrician install the product for the warranty to be valid. These tips are intended for qualified electricians. 

Surge protector installation diagram

Installation of whole home surge protectors require a breaker to connect to the electrical system. For the TE/1C40 whole home panel surge protector a 20A, 2-pole breaker is required because the product is prewired with a #12AWG. Conductors must be matched to an appropriate breaker size. Frequently people ask do I need to install this in a breaker slot positioned at the top of the breaker box? The answer is no. Install the p
rotector on a 2-pole breaker at any point within the breaker box but make sure that breaker position is in close proximity to the knockout that connects the surge protector to the breaker box in order to maintain short and straight leads. Long lead lengths increase the let through voltage of the surge protector which affects its performance. 
  

TE/1C40 surge protector wiring

For complete and detailed instructions on installing the TE/1C40 check out its installation manual.

Lightning claim averages on the rise again

According to the Insurance Information Institute ( I.I.I.), there were more than 186,000 lightning claims in 2011. This resulted in a decrease of 13% from 2010 claims however, the average lightning claim was $5,112 , up 5.5% from 2010. So the reported claims have decreased while the claim amounts have increased. I.I.I. further reports that the average cost per claim has risen 93% from 2004 through 2011, at the same time that the actual number of paid claims fell by over 33 percent over that time frame. They speculate that an increased use of lightning protection systems has resulted in the decrease in claims.

From their Press Release: “The number of paid claims is down, but the average cost per claim continues to rise, in part because of the huge increase in the number and value of consumer electronics in homes,” said Loretta Worters, vice president of the I.I.I. “Plasma and high-definition television sets, home entertainment centers, multiple computer households, smart phones, gaming systems and other expensive devices—which can all be destroyed by power surges—continue to have a significant impact on claims losses.”

The take away from these statistics is to prevent increasingly costly damage in the 1st place and these claims will continue to decline.



Learn more about whole home surge protection.

Surge Protection references

There are a number of third party organization references for surge protection information. For instance APT (parent company of surgeassure) is a NEMA member and NEMA has a website devoted to surge protection, NEMASURGE.


Other sites for surge references include:
State Farm
NIST "Surge Happens"


There are also a number of lightning related sites such as: 
Environment Canada
National Weather Service
National Lightning Safety Institute
Insurance Information Institute

Whole Home Surge Protection

Whole Home Surge Protection

Preventing electrical surge damage has traditionally been left to the consumer to guess at what to do. Do you buy numerous surge protector strips? Do you spend time running around the house during a lightning storm unplugging everything in sight while putting yourself at risk for electrical shock? Or do you just do nothing and rely on your homeowner’s insurance policy to cover any surge losses that may occur? You do none of these; instead you protect your investments by preventing surge damage with surgeassure Whole Home Surge Protection. 


Whole Home Surge Protection cannot be achieved by "One Whole House Surge Protector". In fact it requires a system of surge protectors working together. We refer to this as Zoned surge protection. Zoned surge protection is accomplished with the implementation of primary and secondary surge protectors. 


1. First, surge protectors are applied to the incoming electrical, cable/satellite, and telephone utility services to keep externally generated surges from entering your home. This is your primary surge protection. 


2. Then at key locations throughout the home, localized secondary protection is provided to safeguard against any residual surges from the main service and any internally generated surges. 


To apply this type of protection for your home, surgeassure™ developed Total Zone Protection, which consists of dividing the home into three protection zones: Main Zone, Interior Zone & Exterior Zone. Specialized surge protectors are designed for each zone location: Main Zone, Interior Zone and Exterior Zone.


To purchase Whole Home surge protection products check out our store.