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What kind of appliances?
Electronic appliances
As soon as the word "electronic" is mentioned, your friends will tell war stories of surge damage that can raise justifiable concerns. But fear not; simple precautions and proper protective devices can go a long way to avoid problems and replace those concerns by confidence.
Power
companies sometimes include as bill-stuffers the suggestion to disconnect your
appliances when a severe lightning storm is approaching. But that is no help if
you are not in the house at that time. If, on the other hand, you are in the
house, pulling out the power cord of an appliance that remains connected to a
telephone line or cable TV might not be the best idea: you would lose the
grounding of the appliance normally done by the power cord - possibly a safety
problem should a surge come upon the telephone or cable TV.
By showing you the basic principles of surge protection, this booklet should help you make the choices that fit your needs for protection, without overdoing it. To make the right choice, it is useful to note that there are two types of electronic appliances. For each of these types, a different type of surge protector might be needed. These types include:
One-link connections
Examples of one-link connection of powered electronic appliances include a TV set with "rabbit ears" antenna, a portable radio receiver, a computer with no modem connection or remote printer, a compact fluorescent lamp, etc. In the category of one-link connection we also find an old-fashioned telephone connected only to the telephone system.
Note that most of these have a two-prong plug, which is their sole connection to the power system. For the TV set, a simple" AC plug-in surge protector on the power cord would be sufficient. For just the Clamp, the cost of a surge protector " would be greater than the cost of simply replacing the lamp, if damaged by a surge -and therefore not be justified.
This type of appliance is another
matter. Typical of these would be a computer with a modem, a video system with
cable or satellite link, a phone system directly powered from a receptacle
(those with a large adapter plug and a thin cable with jack which goes to the
appliance generally have sufficient internal isolation against surges).
The surge problem with this type of appliance is that a surge coming in from one of the two systems -power or communications -can damage the appliance, because of a difference in the voltage between the two systems when the surge occurs. This can happen even when there are surge protectors on each of the systems. (For those of you interested in finding out why that is so)
Fortunately, you can find a special type of surge protector against the problem, as described next.
Equalizing differences
A simple
solution to the problem of voltage differences for two-link appliances is to
install a special surge protector that incorporates, in the same package, a
combination of input/output connections for the two systems. Each link, power
and communications, is fed through the protector which is then inserted between
the wall receptacles and the input of the appliance to be protected. This type
of surge protector is readily available in computer and electronics stores, and
the electrical section of home building stores.
In addition to words on the package, it can be recognized by the presence of either a pair of telephone jacks or video coax connectors in addition to the power receptacles. Some models might have all three in ! the same package. Do note a few words of caution: (1) Read carefully the instructions or markings to find which is "in" and which is "out" for the telephone wires. It is important to note, before you buy the product, whether your wall receptacles are wired for three-prong power cords. Some of these combined protectors might not work very well if plugged into a 2-blade receptacle, using a "cheater" plug. (On some, an indicating light will signal that.)
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