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Power surges, spikes, and lightning strikes, oh my! Don’t be the next victim to a house or office fire because you weren’t protected from unexpected electrical surges and sparks.
Article Overview
- Why You Need One?
- What Do They Do?
- Best For Whole House
- Best For Computers & TVs
- Terminology
- How Do They Work? (Video)
- Other Tips
Why Get A Surge Protector?
Did you know that 80% of electrical power surges come from within your own home? Or that cable, ethernet, and phone wires are just as vulnerable to surge damage as electric wiring?
Now more than ever, your home’s electronic devices are susceptible to major power surge damage that can cost you thousands.
And it’s not just your computers and TVs that are at risk. With the advent of smart technology, more and more home appliances – even lighting and home security devices – are at risk of a power surge.
There’s a lot you can do with multiple layers of surge protectors to safeguard all of your home’s electronic valuables.
What Does A Surge Protector Do?
Surge protective devices (aka SPDs) function like a parental control feature, only letting in good electricity and blocking out the bad content. SPDs snuff out unwanted bursts of electricity, called surges or spikes, that can inflict some serious damage to any electronic device, appliance, or system in your home or business.
Most standard wiring in the U.S. accommodates 120 volts of electricity, but sometimes there’s excessive voltage (think of a garden hose with too much water pressure). An SPD suppresses that extra electricity, so it doesn’t travel to your devices. Even smaller surges, called spikes, can wear down the circuit boards in your electronics over time, reducing their lifespan.
Best Whole House Surge Protector
In our best home surge protector reviews, we review SPDs that wire directly into your home’s breaker box to safeguard against external power surges, like lightning strikes, but they even guard against surges that come from within your home. When systems on a dedicated circuit, like your AC, experience a surge, the excess power flows back through your breaker panel. If you have an SPD in place, however, it stops the surge in its tracks.
You need an electrician to install whole house SPDs, unlike the surge strips you plug into your home outlets. Below are our top picks for whole house surge protectors. All are 120/240 V and UL certified (the gold standard for safe electronic products). See our terminology section to understand all the tech jargon and why the specs are important.
Winner: Eaton Whole House Surge Protection Review
Well known in the commercial electronics industry for its high quality, the Eaton CHSPT2ULTRA is our winner for the best home surge protector. With one of the highest surge current capacities we’ve seen at 108kA and a lower price than most whole house SPDs, the Eaton is tough to beat for its value.
While the basic model doesn’t have phone or cable protection, you can easily add one or both. It’s an additional cost, but we like that you customize what you need without paying for things you won’t use.
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Pricing & Tech Specs
- $159.00
- 108 kA Surge Current Capacity
- 22 kA SCCR
- MCOV: 150V L-N, 300V L-L
- VPR: 600V L-N, 1000V L-L, 800V N-G, 600V L-G
- Limited lifetime $75,000 warranty for connected equipment
Runner-Up: Square D Surgelogic Surgebreaker Plus Whole House Surge Protector Review
The Square D Surgelogic Surge Breaker Plus Whole House Surge Protector (Model SDSB80111) wins our second spot as the best whole house surge protector. Square D is a top producer of electrical products and has an excellent reputation.
This product gives you complete house protection, including phone, cable, and ethernet, all in a small, easy-to-install design.
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Pricing & Tech Specs
- $345.00
- 80 kA Surge Current Capacity
- 25 kA SCCR
- MCOV: 150V L-N; 150V L-G; 300V L-L
- VPR: 600V L-N; 1,000V L-L; 1,000V N-G; 700V L-G VPR
- A five-year warranty covers up to $75,000 of connected equipment
3rd Place: Leviton Panel Protector Review
The Leviton 51120-1 Panel Protector comes in third in our best whole house surge protector category. While Leviton is a long-standing, reputable manufacturer of electronic products, this product falls short compared to its competitors.
The low performance of the Leviton Panel Protector doesn’t warrant its high price tag.
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Pricing & Tech Specs
- $139.99
- 50 kA Surge Current Capacity
- 10 kA SCCA
- MCOV: 150V L-N; 300V L-L
- VPR: 800V L-N; 1,200V L-L
- The 10-year limited warranty covers up to $25,000 of connected equipment
Best Surge Protector for Computers & TVs
Your whole house surge protector is your first line of defense. However, most experts agree it’s always a good idea to layer your protection by adding standard surge protectors to your home electronics. Here are our picks for best surge protectors for computers, televisions, home entertainment systems, and more.
Winner: Belkin 12-Outlet Home/Office Surge Protector Review
The Belkin 12-Outlet Home/Office Surge Protector with Phone/Ethernet/Coaxial Protection (Model BE112234-10) takes our top spot as the best standard surge protector. This surge protector rocks. It has excellent joule rating and protection for all your lines (a key factor for home office and home theater centers).
A compact design and extended cord length make the Belkin easy to use anywhere. It even has sliding safety covers on each of its 12 outlets. Top it off with Belkin’s lifetime $300,000 connected equipment warranty and you’ve got an excellent product.
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Pricing & Tech Specs
- $27.08
- The lifetime warranty covers up to $300,000 in connected equipment
- 10-foot cord
- 120V Nominal Voltage Input
- 3996 Joule Energy Rating
- 6000V Maximum Spike Voltage
- 330V Clamping Voltage
- Data line protection: RJ-11 Telephone/Modem/Fax/DSL protection (1 in, 2 out); Coaxial/Cable protection; RJ-45 Ethernet pro
- Noise Filter: 150KHz ~100MHz, up to 75dB
Runner-Up: Tripp Lite Protect It! 10-Outlet Surge Protector
The Tripp Lite Protect It! 10-Outlet Surge protector (Model TLP 1008TELTV) comes in a close second as the best standard surge protector. The Tripp Lite shares many of the same great features as our number one pick, with a few exceptions: fewer outlets, a shorter cord, and a smaller warranty.
What really tips the scale? The ultimate reason you’re looking at these products. The Tripp Lite just doesn’t match the level of surge protection that Belkin offers.
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Pricing & Tech Specs
- $44.61
- The lifetime warranty covers up to $150,000 in connected equipment
- Eight-foot cord
- 120V Nominal Voltage Input
- 3345 Joule Energy Rating
- 150V Clamping Voltage
- Data line protection: Built-in RJ11 jacks; built-in splitter protects two devices sharing a single line; 6-ft. telephone cord included. Built-in 2.2GHz gold coax jacks; 6-ft gold coax cable included
- Noise Filter: up to 40dB
3rd Place: APC Surgearrest 3020J Review
The APC 3020J 11-Outlet Performance SurgeArrest Surge Protector with Phone (Splitter), Coax, and Ethernet Protection (Model P11VNT3) rounds out our top three best surge protectors.
Although the APC performs well compared to lesser quality SPDs, it just can’t compete with our top two winners. What keeps it out of our top two spots? Less overall surge protection, smallest warranty coverage, and many consumer complaints about product quality.
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Pricing & Tech Specs
- Check Amazon for availability
- The lifetime warranty covers up to $100,000 in connected equipment
- 120V Nominal Voltage Input
- 3020 Joule Rating
- 400V Clamping Voltage
- Data line protection: Analog phone line for phone/fax/modem/DSL (RJ-11 connector), Network line – 10/100 Base-T Ethernet (RJ-45 connector), Coaxial cable for CATV/SATV/modem/Audio-Video (coax connector)
- Noise Filter: 100KHz ~10MHz, up to 70dB
Surge Protector Terminology
- Joules: the units of energy a standard SPD is capable of suppressing. Many experts recommend a 1,300 joule rating minimum for computers.
- Surge Current Capacity: the maximum amount of surge current that the SPD can safely divert in a one-time surge event. Measured in kA (thousands of amps), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers recommends a minimum of 20 kA to 70 kA and for high lightning locations 40 kA to 120 kA.
- Short Circuit Current Rating (SCCR): the amount of current the SPD can withstand under short-circuit conditions in the building’s wiring. Short circuits don’t produce the high voltage levels that surge events create, so the SCCR numbers are much lower.
- Modes of Protection: The best whole house surge protectors should have protection for Line to Neutral (L-N), Neutral to Ground (N-G), and Line to Ground (L-G) for both incoming lines.
- Maximum Continuous Operating Voltage (MCOV): a measure of how much voltage the SPD can handle through its individual modes of protection during a continuous surge. The higher the number, the better. The general rule is: the MCOV should be at minimum 15% above the unit’s nominal voltage, so with a 120V/240V unit, the L-N MCOV should be a minimum of 138V, and the L-L MCOV should be 276V at minimum.
- Voltage Protection Rating (VPR): Also called clamping voltage, the VPR measures how much voltage can run through the SPD after a surge event. Like the MCOV, the VPR levels are listed for each mode of protection. Unlike the MCOV, the lower the number, the better.
How Does Whole House Surge Protection Work?
Check out this video by Eaton to see how whole house surge protection safeguards your home against power surges.
Take Charge Of Your Electronics
The average home has $10,000 to $15,000 of electronic devices that are all susceptible to major power surge damage. Given the thousands you could lose in damaged equipment, it makes sense to invest in the best surge protector devices for your home and office. This is especially true for larger ticket items, like treadmill desks and 3D printers.
Have you had surge events in your home or office? Let us know in the comments!
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