Whole house surge protectors not available in UK?

[GabrielKnight]

.
Can anyone tell me why these aren't available from a UK source (or correct me if I'm wrong)?

They are heavily advertised in US and can be bought at competitive prices, supposedly bringing long term durability to devices that might otherwise wear down expensive components connected directly to the mains - I have 4x Sony LCD TV, Sony laptop, Hifis etc. Some sites even advertise that the electricity bill might fall 20% by controlling the spikes although I'd just be happy with a system that simply protects my expensive equipment without having to buy bulky unattractive Belkin extensions each time I add new equipment.

See this US drivel for an idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foFgbebi7AQ

Do we have an inherently cleaner power supply and less chance of lightning strikes down the line than our 'special friends'? Where can I buy one of these whole house surge protectors without importing through eBay and paying stupid prices well over £100?
.

 

[plugwash]

I've seen whole installation surge protectors for sale in this country before, I think it was from RS or farnell or so.

They were pretty expensive though.

 

[GabrielKnight]

1. k thanks, I've searched 'house surge protector' on RS and it comes up with all sorts. Can you please help me pick out what I want from the list? I want to protect all my sockets with a single device coming into a 3 bedroom bungalow. I have an electrician that will fit it, but need to know what to buy.

2. Any clue of what it will cost for a leccy to fit and what it will cost to unfit when I leave the property?

3. I'd also still like to know why they are considered fairly unusual in the UK, why you can't find them in B&Q etc like you can in the states. Do we have cleaner electricity and are they ultimately not really needed / a waste of money in the UK?

Ta!

 

[RF Lighting]

Looks like a load of scaremongering nonsense to me.

I can only think of 1 property I have ever been to which has had equipment damaged by a surge. It was a melted (actually physically melted) RCD and a dead telly following his TV ariel being struck by lightning.

The chance of this happening is so remote in this country, it would be difficult to justify the cost of having a TVSS installed.

You can get transient voltage surge supressors (TVSS) for you consumer unit, but they are expensive. MEM do them, and I have one at home, but I'm not sure it would ever actually do anything

IMO, if you are concerned, you would be better off using surge supressors local to the equipment such as those 4 gang extensions you can get, or fit a few MK filtered sockets.

They are selling for a tenner each at B&Q. They are normally about £40 trade, so they are a real bargain.

Clicky

 

[GabrielKnight]

The discount is great and a fantastic manufacturer too. But there is no indication of what it is 'filtering' (surges, RF noise?) and to what levels.

I've done quite a bit of researching from all sorts of sources and the concensus is as follows:

* There are varying degrees of surge - from high powered surges such as lightning strike that can annialate a whole house, down to everyday variations in voltage most of us experience that put unseen strain on equipment and components.

* Surges are one of the major causes of equipment breakdown. Clean supplies = components have more chance of lasting longer.

* Surges are measured in joules and good manufacturers provide financial guarantees of resistance to varying levels.

* Not all equipment that is advertised as surge resistant is of worth. There are many £8 'surge resistant' extension cords with the little LED on the end that are no different to any other extension cord. While the product you gave a link to probably has better protection than such products, especially considering the brand, they offer no evidence of any kind and the price makes me think they're cashing in on their name via mass distribution.

I have >£3500 of electronics in the house I can't afford to replace so am weary of trusting it to sockets with a bit of rod soldered in for good luck but no guarantee iykwim. ; )

 

[RF Lighting]

There is some technical info on page 4 here

 

[jayz]

I have installed surge protection units for high spec security systems,units used vary in levels of protection from UK company-Furse,they have units for all requirements

 

[333rocky333]

Have you tried merlin gerin, they may have something, easily available in the UK.

 

[FourFootMedia]

I have >£3500 of electronics in the house I can't afford to replace so am weary of trusting it to sockets with a bit of rod soldered in for good luck but no guarantee iykwim. ; )

That's what insurance is for Check your policy to make sure it covers you for damage caused by electrical fluctuations/surges as some don't.

 

[Stoday]

The UK is different from the USA. UK distribution voltage is 400/230V whereas the US is typically 220/110V.

For the same percentage volt drop, the UK distribution cable/line is double the length of the USA version. Hence the theoretical area covered by a substation is four times greater in the UK. In fact, it's even better than that because diversity means the ratio is more like 16:1.

So you need a transformer for every 5 houses or so in the US otherwise distribution losses become far too high. That means the transformer's small, so a pole-mounted substation is the norm, with overhead lines supplying houses except in cities' downtown areas.

In the UK only rural supplies use a pole-mounted transformers and overhead lines; urban areas normally have ground mounted substations and underground cables.

The size and low impedance of ground mounted substations, together with underground cables instead of overhead lines, means that the supply quality is much better than can typically be expected in the US. Hence transient supressors are not readily available: there's no market for them.

 

[Stoday]

.
See this US drivel for an idea:
.

Drivel? That's total danglies!

In my 68 years I've never had any appliance die from a surge.

I've only once seen burnt out plant due to a lightning surge — a sewerage farm at Luton in the 1960's.

 

[JohnD]

I have observed in the US that they have many more light bulb failures than I have ever seen over here. I assumed this was because of unreliable/fluctuating power supplies.

This was in smallish towns (they have a lot of them) it might be different in a medium-sized city.

 

[jabuzzard]

.
See this US drivel for an idea:
.

Drivel? That's total danglies!

In my 68 years I've never had any appliance die from a surge.

I've only once seen burnt out plant due to a lightning surge — a sewerage farm at Luton in the 1960's.

Yes well in my 38 years I have seen a computer monitor have it's HD15 pin input fried when a kettle flex shorted out. Fortunately it was an expensive 21" model that had BNC inputs that where still working fine.

 

[jabuzzard]

The UK is different from the USA. UK distribution voltage is 400/230V whereas the US is typically 220/110V.

It's more the fact that they don't do three phase domestic distribution.

For the same percentage volt drop, the UK distribution cable/line is double the length of the USA version. Hence the theoretical area covered by a substation is four times greater in the UK. In fact, it's even better than that because diversity means the ratio is more like 16:1.

That's because we use three phase to distribute the mains to domestic properties.

So you need a transformer for every 5 houses or so in the US otherwise distribution losses become far too high. That means the transformer's small, so a pole-mounted substation is the norm, with overhead lines supplying houses except in cities' downtown areas.

In the UK only rural supplies use a pole-mounted transformers and overhead lines; urban areas normally have ground mounted substations and underground cables.

There is plenty of overhead cables around in urban areas with lots of properties built in the 19th century and before mind you.

The size and low impedance of ground mounted substations, together with underground cables instead of overhead lines, means that the supply quality is much better than can typically be expected in the US. Hence transient supressors are not readily available: there's no market for them.

Another big factor is that we are an order of magnitude less likely to have a lightning strike than many areas of North America. Hence the need for surge suppression is drastically reduced.

However it is relatively cheap to fit. One point to bear in mind however, is that if you suffer a direct strike even the best earthing, and surge suppression may well not help.

 

[ericmark]

Looking at the video I see here

Untitled

• ericmark
• 25 Jun 2009
• 1

the surge protectors have no earth cables attached so there is very little they can do to protect from atmospheric discharges (lighting) if you look at a BT master socket you will find a spark gap and leakage resistors which reduce the effect of atmospheric discharges and your TV socket will often also contain de-coupling capacitor again to reduce the effect of atmospheric discharges. I know that as last one I fitted also had them on sky F type connector which will not work as the LNB needs a 12vdc supply up coax.

Any aerial device (pole, wire or the aerial itself) may get an atmospheric discharge and most manufactures will include some protection. As to mains born spikes then most electronic equipment use switch mode power supplies and these convert the AC to DC and charge a large capacitor then turn it back to high frequency AC then transform it to required voltage where it is turned to DC again and another capacitor. The chances of a spike getting past that lot is slim.

So I would consider the only benefit of the system you have shown us is the insurance included in the package. And that may not be valid in UK so just take out contains insurance and forget about it.

To protect against a direct lighting strike is near impossible but to protect against an atmospheric discharge where the strike is close is something we can do. Aerial devices should not be mounted on sharp corners i.e. don't mount on gable end of house. Also do not mount on or near an earthed item i.e. don't mount on a soot lined chimney. This will reduce the chance of damage due to an atmospheric discharge but also remember unless decoupling capacitors and earths are used you can get a nasty belt from aerial sockets and like during a storm I would always pull out by wire and not touch metal plug.