Surge protectors for appliances

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paulchinnz

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#191315 31-Jan-2016 20:49

Have been using some budget ones (e.g. http://www.bunnings.co.nz/arlec-plug-in-surge-protector_p00736382) for various appliances (e.g. washing machine, fridge/freezer) for a while.

Any point in spending more?

Batman

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#1482452 31-Jan-2016 21:20

Same here. Been told they are not very effective. Oh well, contents insurance, tick.

toyonut

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#1482490 31-Jan-2016 22:35

Probably not worth spending heaps. I have no scientific basis for this, but I don't think an expensive one will stop significantly more current/voltage if lightning hits the house. Basically it is going to melt and whether it costs $5 or $500, it is going to melt. Seeing the damage done to various appliances after lightning hit a friends house, I would rather have a cheap one than none at all, but I don't think any amount of fusing is going to stop 500000+ volts. If you are lucky the surge protector will help, but chances are it will do nothing at all.

Try Vultr using this link and get us both some credit:

http://www.vultr.com/?ref=7033587-3B

paulchinnz

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#1482529 1-Feb-2016 06:23

toyonut:
Probably not worth spending heaps. I have no scientific basis for this, but I don't think an expensive one will stop significantly more current/voltage if lightning hits the house. Basically it is going to melt and whether it costs $5 or $500, it is going to melt. Seeing the damage done to various appliances after lightning hit a friends house, I would rather have a cheap one than none at all, but I don't think any amount of fusing is going to stop 500000+ volts. If you are lucky the surge protector will help, but chances are it will do nothing at all.

I think you've hit it on head - questions are a) whether eg $65 surge protector offers much additional protection over $5 and b) whether $5 does anything at all beyond placebo.

gregmcc

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#1482530 1-Feb-2016 07:04

looks like people are associating surge protection with lightning strikes,

Bottom line is that there isn't much that will protect you against a lightning strike, there are some pretty expensive pieces of kit that will help, but will exceed the value of the gear you are protecting.

Surges are different things, as high loads (such as big motors at the factory up the road) turn off there could be surges in your power, or the boy racer hitting the power pole and the 11KV line coming into contact with the 400V lines, amongst other things, again the more expensive surge arrestor you buy will be more beneficial.

The double adaptor plug in unit.....you might as well be using a bit of blue tack and a paper clip instead.

paulchinnz

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#1482535 1-Feb-2016 07:21

gregmcc:
looks like people are associating surge protection with lightning strikes,

Bottom line is that there isn't much that will protect you against a lightning strike, there are some pretty expensive pieces of kit that will help, but will exceed the value of the gear you are protecting.

Surges are different things, as high loads (such as big motors at the factory up the road) turn off there could be surges in your power, or the boy racer hitting the power pole and the 11KV line coming into contact with the 400V lines, amongst other things, again the more expensive surge arrestor you buy will be more beneficial.

The double adaptor plug in unit.....you might as well be using a bit of blue tack and a paper clip instead.

Thanks for clarification. Recommend any alternatives to the $5 adapter for eg washing machine?

gregmcc

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#1482540 1-Feb-2016 07:31

there are some wired in ones that can offer whole house protection, some even have replaceable modules when the surge protection fails.

Can't recommend anything specifically, but not the El-chepo on, and whatever you do get keep all the paperwork, so if you have to make a claim then you can

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Jase2985

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#1482548 1-Feb-2016 08:08

i wouldnt even bother for the washing machine

MartinGZ

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#1482803 1-Feb-2016 13:54

I've several Belkin multiblock surge protectors, which come with lifetime warranty. One that showed it had failed (indicator lamps) was replaced no questions asked. Regularly get power outages around here because of fallen trees etc, so can only assume they are doing the job - who really knows. Main PC has an expensive UPS to deal with the outages and shutdown gracefully.

Ditto - don't bother with anything else. Surge protectors only on PC parts and stereo. If major thunderstorm comes through the plug comes out the wall anyway.

Nokia 6110, 6210, 6234, Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1, Huawei Ideos X5 (Windows Mobile), Samsung Galaxy SIII, LG G4, OnePlus 5, iPhone Xs Max (briefly), S21 Ultra. And I thought I hadn't had many phones - but the first one around 1997.

paulchinnz

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#1483013 1-Feb-2016 17:53

Thanks all. Anyone tried one of these Belkins?

I guess one can see approaching major thunderstorm but gregmcc's boyracer vs power pole is pretty sudden.

So is the reason for surge protection for PC parts and stereo and not washing machine is because:

a) PC/stereo parts are more 'sensitive' or

b) washing machine is cheap or

c) ??

Jase2985

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#1483028 1-Feb-2016 18:24

washing machine doesnt contain user data that most would class irreplaceable

richms

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#1483090 1-Feb-2016 20:18

One really bad thing I have seen is places selling dryers and washing machines with a double adapter surge protector "so it can protect both" - and melt the wall outlet in the process.

IME most are built as bad as the crap $3 powerstrips from random junk brands and just have a single MOV between line and neutral. The same thing that any power supply better than a $2 ebay one will have across the input anyway.

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1eStar

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#1483151 1-Feb-2016 21:55

Older washing machines esp early F&P microprocessor controlled 'gentle Annie' machines were susceptible to main board failure from spikes\surges (or that's what they used to blame failure on anyway). Hence the reason why many people put surge guards on washing machines.

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#1483284 2-Feb-2016 09:45

Quite a while back Consumer mag tested a bunch of them. All worthless except for 2 that cost $150+
The other thing never mentioned, is that they are one hit units, ie they take that one surge, then need to be repaired/replaced