The Misconception With Surge Protectors

First you have to realize that surge protectors are in no way lightning protection devices. They can provide adequate protection from everyday power surges, spikes in electrical current caused by turning on a high-energy appliance and the like but when it comes to protection against lightning strikes you are talking about something completely different. While lightning strikes are rare there really is nothing short of encapsulating your home in rubber that will protect you from the damage inflicted from a blast of lightning. The unpredictability of lightning and the extreme level of energy released when lightning strikes is such that nothing commercially available for homes will offer 100% protection. That kind of surge is just too great for so small a connection.

Now, if your home was part of a radio tower of some kind you might be in luck….

Your best source of protection is to simply unplug the equipment you don't want to get damaged in the event of a lightning storm. It is also wise to disconnect any digital phone lines and/or cable, satellite or outdoor antennae inputs that are coming into the house. Another option is if lightning is common in your area you may opt for a lightning rod set up a short distance away from your home.

You CAN find a whole house surge protector designed to protect against lightning, but these are still not designed to withstand a direct strike. They rely on the bolt striking the ground nearby and merely redirect the surge to a ground. These are similar to the type installed in large buildings and those radio towers I mentioned. For further protection you can install UPS surge protectors, also called a battery backup surge protector.

These offer uninterrupted power via a battery backup and allow you to shut down any equipment that stores data like a computer or a file server. If the power goes out, the UPS kicks in and gives you about twenty minutes worth of battery power. This allows enough time to safely shut down your equipment without losing data. It's a second line of defense AFTER the whole house surge protector. Used alone, a UPS surge protector may protect you from the effects of a nearby lightning strike but if it's something that directly energizes the lines, the odds are against you.

Now after all that, I am not saying that a surge protector can't protect you even if your outlet is not grounded. Some inline surge protectors will shut off, thus killing the power supply to your electronics and saving them. Your best bet though is to use a UPS surge protector to avoid any brownout situation or dirty power (surges).

In case there is some confusion on the matter between what a regular wall surge protector is and what a UPS surge protector is, a wall surge protector is best used on televisions, receivers and everyday electric appliances that require a constant level supply of power to operate. For large appliances you can use something like a clothes dryer surge protector that has a high Joules rating.UPS surge protectors should be used on computers and things like file servers that can lose data if shut down improperly. A quality UPS will protect against these power fluctuations because of the steady power the battery supplies, even if the electric power is fluctuating.