I think he's a salesman with a commission

Yup - we got one after my DSIL's house had a near-hit from lightning and they had to replace Every Single Appliance in the house, except (fortunately) the new flat-screen TV, which had one built in. The doorbell was actually blown up, and landed in the middle of the front lawn. Some was insured, but what with deductibles and all, it cost them much more than it cost us to install the whole-house surge protector.

I say DO IT!!!

My sister had to replace her refrigerator. This was a lot less than the cost of the appliance.
The appliance salesperson had no financial stake in this. He was merely trying to give advice on keeping my appliances from getting "cooked" down the road.

I have been interested in this, too. How did you choose one? I have gone to the local electrical supply store, and they don't really know anything about it.

Our electrician recommended the one we ended up with. We've known him for some years, and trust his judgement.

(It was later endorsed by a cousin, who has his own firm of electrical contractors, but only does commercial buildings)

We have one. DH did all of the research, and he doesn't like spending for unnecessary things, so I assume it's a good thing!

Anne

My "Smart House" guy recommended the whole house surge protector when I remodeled in 2005. And he has one in his own home, a very upscale home. My father, an electrical engineer, thought it was such a great idea, he installed one in his own home.

The cost of the whole house surge protector is a LOT less than the $$$ you would spend to repair or replace the itmes that are plugged into your electrical outlets.

We put one in after a nearby strike took out our garbage disposal and some lamps. Our neighbor lost her air conditioner compressor unit. We paid an electrician around $300 to put one on the main breaker box, but found out later that we could have paid our local utility company $8/month to put one on the outside meter. So check your utility company too.

We needed 3. One for each box and one for our generator.
The units he used are called Intermatic Panel Guard. IG1240RC. ( I just checked the boxes) The job was $425.00. I don't know if that is the going rate elsewhere.
I don't think they are all that common. I only know of a few people who have them, but as we were building, it sounded like a good idea to me.

One of the FIRST things I told my electrician was to install a whole-house surge protector when he installed our new 40/40 200A service panel. It fits between the electric meter and the panel--easy--it just plugs in where the meter goes, and the meter face plugs into that. Don't know what brand or model. He charged me $100.

While power surges are fairly uncommon, I have a LOT of expensive electronics, and this is one add-on I definitely wanted when we put in the new service panel.

So, yes! Get one!

A proper or even better and upgraded grounding system for the whole house is the best way to go. If you want to put these in your panel box then you'll be limited to the maker's offerings.

Third party devices can be added to the service entrance or outside the panels and you can install surge outlets at the appliance to further protect.

Might ask over on the electrical section too.
In addition to Intermatic, Leviton makes all kinds of units, Sedi-Power has a decent rep and Panamax has a wide selection.

Here is a link that might be useful: these guys make some of the best

We did it, but also still have separate protectors on computers and such. It may be my imagination but I think even light bulbs last longer. Our electrical grid is supposedly very dirty, and it seemed like I used to replace bulbs every couple months.