Home Improvement : Surge Suppressor Can Protect All Circuits
QUESTION: My TV repairman said that common high-voltage surges in my electric lines caused my VCR and microwave oven to break. Will installing a whole- house surge suppressor protect them and does one waste electricity?
ANSWER: The electronic circuitry in today’s appliances has become very sensitive to common high-voltage surges in your electric lines. Even clothes dryers and furnaces now have electronic microprocessors.
Everyday, there are hundreds of high-voltage surges (up to 6,000 volts) in your home. These surges can be caused by external sources such as motors switching on and off in a nearby home or business, lightning, car accidents involving an electric pole, etc. Even running your own vacuum cleaner, furnace blower or refrigerator, any appliance with a motor, causes surges.
These numerous surges, only a fraction of a second in duration, can slowly degrade the insulation and solid state components in your electronic appliances. Then one day, for no apparent reason, they just stop working properly. Surges also make light bulbs burn out more often.
A whole-house surge suppressor can protect all the circuits in your home from high-voltage surges. You can mount one on the circuit breaker panel with only three or four wires. Another design, offering more heavy-duty protection, is installed as a mounting adapter behind your electric meter.
The newest, least expensive and easiest to install whole-house surge suppressor is built into a standard double circuit breaker. To install it, you mount it into your breaker panel like any other circuit breaker and attach a single wire to ground. These use virtually no electricity to work.
When you select a whole-house surge suppressor, compare the performance specifications. The level of protection varies significantly among similar-looking surge suppressors. The best models react to block high-voltage surges within one nanosecond (one billionth of a second).
The key specifications are the clamping voltage (when the suppressor begins to block the surge) and the total energy it can dissipate without burning out. A lower clamping voltage and a higher total energy dissipation are better. For sensitive equipment such as computers and VCR’s, a combination of a whole-house and plug-in point-of-use suppressors is effective.
Compare the warranties. Several manufacturers will replace any damaged electronic appliances up to $5,000 caused by surges. One manufacturer sells an inexpensive surge suppressor for laptop computers with a full two-year computer replacement warranty, even if the computer is damaged by dropping it.
You can write to me for Utility Bills Update No. 696 showing a buyer’s guide for whole-house surge suppressors listing 14 manufacturers, design type, prices, clamping voltages, energy dissipation, reaction times and warranties. Please include $1.50 and a self-addressed business-size envelope. Send your requests to James Dulley, c/o Los Angeles Times, 6906 Royalgreen Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio 45244.
Light-Colored Shingles Are Better Choice
Q: I plan to re-shingle my roof. Should I select light- or dark-colored shingles? I have heard that light ones reflect summer heat, but lose heat in the winter.
A: Light-colored shingles are the best choice for almost any climate. In the summer, your roof stays much cooler with light-colored shingles. This saves energy and reduces the deterioration of the roofing materials.
In the winter, light-colored shingles do not lose more. With dark shingles, the roof does get slightly warmer in the winter. With proper attic ventilation and insulation, this warmer air is exhausted out the roof vents and adds very little heat to your home.
