Do You Need Surge Protector (Power + Data) for Highrise Unit ?
Do You Need Surge Protector (Power + Data) for Highrise Unit ?
dcep on 10/11/2017 - 21:37
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what about lightning ?
Assuming you haven't read the article it says
lightning can and does cause electrical surges, but the voltage of lightning is so great that most surge protectors won’t be able to withstand their power. During a lightning storm, the only way to be absolutely sure that your devices won’t be surged is to unplug them.
Lightning has enough energy to jump across several kilometres of air to hit the ground, so a tiny air gap between electronics and wires isn't enough to stop it from arcing through anything that is conductive.
http://stormhighway.com/surge_protectors_ups_lightning_prote…
As per the above website, it says unplugging your stuff during a thunderstorm is the best and cheapest method of avoiding a lightning surge
Interesting, i'd have thought the lightning rod on highrise grounded the energy.
Yes, a lightning rod (just like a protector) grounds that energy. Anything that requires manual intervention (ie unplugging) is a least reliable solution. Since nobody knows a surge is coming until long after it came. And since many if not most at-risk appliances cannot be unplugged.
To make appliance damage easier, use a 'point of use' (plug-in) protector. That traditionally gives a surge even more paths to find earth destructively trhough appliances. And does not even claim to protect from typically destructive surges. If in doubt, read its specification numbers.
If anything needs protection, then everything needs that protection. Anything inside a structure that might do protection is, well, read its specification numbers. It only protects from surges already made irrelevant by protection inside every appliance.
Protection means that surge energy never enters a structure. Then best protection inside appliances is not overwhelmed. That superior solution also costs tens of times less money.
Protection of a structure is a lightning rod connected to earth. Then hundreds of thousands of joules dissipate harmlessly outside. Protection of appliances is a 'whole house' solution connected low impedance to earth. Then hundreds of thousands of joules dissipate harmlessly outside.
It was done this way even over 100 years ago. Best solution is always found in facilities that cannot have damage. And is essential to protect those 'point of use' protectors.
BTW, that article has much misinformation. Lightning typically is not 100,000 amps. Lightning that large is rare. More numbers; this time from a 1979 IEEE paper:
… that only 5% of all ground strokes exceed a peak current of 100 kA. The frequency of the strokes is dependent upon the geographic location (isokeraunic levels), as well as upon local configurations. The probably occurance of a stroke involving the utility pole near a house with no adjacent tall trees of buildings in 1 per 400 years for most of the US. For a 5% probability, the liklihood can reduced 20 times; in areas of high lightning activity, this likelihood can be reduced 10 times. A stroke exceeding 100 kA at one location, therefore can be expected to occur only once in 10,000 years.
Lightning is typically 20,000 amps. So a minimal 'whole house' solution (that costs much less money compared to plug-in solutionis) is 50,000 amps. Yes, protection is routinely installed even for direct lightning strikes. Even the protector must not fail. Nothing new. This is how it was done even 100 years ago.
In every case, no lightning rod or protector does protection. Effective protection means those devices connect as short as possible to earth ground. Then hundreds of thousands of joules dissipate harmlessly outside. Then best protection already inside appliances is not overwhelmed. Then nobody even knew a surge existed.
The most critical item in all protection is earth ground. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground. Obviously wall receptacle safety ground is not earth ground.
The electrons might go up slow but they come down real fast.
You should generally use a surge protector for devices that are particularly expensive. Doesn't matter what kind of dwelling you live in — highrise, apartment or granny flat.
You won't need one for your lamps / fans / heaters etc but you might consider using one for expensive AV equipment, TV's, desktops.
Another related forum topic: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/340109 which discusses connected equipment insurance that usually comes with more premium / expensive surge boards. Not my area of expertise though