and you should still have surge arrestors/noise filters plugged in where you have sensitive/expensive equipment to protect from noise (which whole house surge arrestors don't, and a whole house noise filter while possible would be very expensive and would have to install in series with the main panel, possibly with a panel before it just for a breaker, very messy) and local spikes (i.e. from vacuum cleaners, washers, refrigorators/air conditioners etc.) and as backup, particularly since all arrestors let some energy sneak through (usually on a 120 line a surge protector will let it go up to about 250V or so briefly, which is a lot better than several thousand volts and can be tolerated by most equipment briefly).
i may have written the email you mention. since i got a new ebay catalog i can give anyone interested the part numbers to build your' own whole house unit for about $60+enclosure+breaker+buss bars etc. (they have to be on a breaker to comply with code, preferably a 100A or 200A breaker with wiring that can handle that current). it is possible and even easy to provide a monitoring light so the user knows if that breaker has tripped and the protection is off (when these things fail they fail shorted, so you absolutely need a breaker, and should never open the surge protector box with power on since when they fail shorted they can and sometimes do explode rather violently, as you'd expect when you short out the mains!). the monitoring light can easily be remote if you use a low voltage transformer in the surge arrestor box to power a small light from the circuit the arrestor is on, if you were really worried in a semi-commercial setting you could hook up an alarm bell with a little more work, though that would mean you'd want a volunteer to run out in the storm and pull the main breaker most likely....(though those can be modified to be controlled from somewhere else as well if you really wanted to, it just cost $, most breaker companies have units you can add to the standard breakers for that, used in some industrial setups for equipment that's on multiple breakers etc. when you want them all to turn off when one circuit trips). of course with these very, very large ZNRs failure is unlikely, they can handle a surge current of 40,000 amps irc depending on which model you spring for. now that i actually have the part numbers available again, if any one is interested contact me off list, possibly a group buy could be set up to save more, possibly if many people are interested they could throw a few ZNR's my way ;). i've wanted to do this for some time but couldn't find the part numbers the last time i had $ and it could be awhile before i have money for that again. and digikey now has a better unit available in a different case, it was more than that for parts a few years ago and the rating was slightly lower. these znr's respond in about 25ns, which is very, very fast indeed. i do recommend a metal box for heat and protection reasons, and some venting on the bottom again for heat dissipation and pressure relief should one fail shorted and pop (they usually just pull the breaker, but occasionally the breaker isn't fast enough or the surge is really huge, like the power companies high voltage line being shorted to your house power, i.e. 13.8KV at thousands of amps, being connected to your' 120V! but that is hopefully fairly rare, or a direct lightning hit on the power line, in which case you are probably out of luck all on all of your equipment). fyi, the "code" (nec) is available for free download, or at least last years is and your library may have a copy of the most current codes for your' area, they should be followed at all times or you can void your' insurance if you do something that's not to code and a fire starts that may have been caused by your' work, though a whole house arrestor is usually mounted outside right next to the box and has little chance of causing problems. in fact it needs to be as close to the main panel as possible. Brian wrote: ------ > Your best (and only, really) defense against lightning, and any > originating-external-to-the-house issues, is: proximity to ground. you > could have a $500 backUPS type solution in your computer room but if > it's a long way from house ground, or even not grounded WELL as many > older houses can be (and a 3 prong plug does not a ground make) it is > not doing any real good against surges. ------ -- Why are republicans afraid of the U.N. observing our elections? Do U.S. citizens deserve less than those of other countries? <http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6505.htm> In many states citizens still have the option of using a paper ballot, if they ask. I urge all voters to demand the right to vote on paper and create an auditable election. There is something fundamentally wrong when voting machines are designed to not provide any physical record of votes. -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
