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dgeist

Options for whole-home surge protection

dgeist
10 years ago

I'm looking into various types and makers of "whole home surge protection" devices and I think I'm going to stay with the maker of my panel. That particular maker has a couple options. One is a standard two-slot breaker form factor with the protection circuitry onboard an a simple LED for operational status (only requiring a pigtail to the neutral bus). The other is an external assembly which requires the same breaker connection to each leg of the service (typical for the device category), but which also has Coax and Cat5 protection onboard, but at several times the price.

My question is: for my AC legs, how can I determine which type would give me better protection. The first one has the advantage of a very clean install and taking up no room outside the panel, but obviously the second has more features which I might have to implement with another device if I don't go that route. I'd like to compare apples to apples (for the AC side, at least) to make the decision easier. Also, any personal experiences with one over the other would be helpful.

Thanks
Dan

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