Protecting your appliance from power surges

[mazdamazda]

How do you properly protect appliances from power surges?

The projector tv & PC at my parent's house got fried last weekend. According to them, the electricity flickered for a second then that's it. :cry:

For the PC, I installed before a surge strip & an AVR - the room has a dedicated breaker. For the TV, it is equipped with a transformer & a dedicated fuse box.

Aside from these, what additional protection can I add the next time around?

For laptops, do I also ground it (for those with a three prong outlet)?

[akuma]

alam ko dati nauso yung mga ref guard at app guard...
di ko lang sure how effective they are...
kailangan ko rin dito yan sa shop... lalo na rainy season na... madalas mag on off ang kuryente...
cguro i need some ups din bukod sa avr ng mg pc ko...

i'll wait na lang sa mga magpopost...

[nicolodeon]

M2, yes ground the laptop. For your ref, get an AVR with more than 1500N rating. A 500N rating AVR won't cut it. Trust me - my laptop got fried a couple of years ago when a strong electrical surge went through my 500N AVR.

If you plan to install an airconditioner, get a separate breaker for it. I installed a separate breaker for my aircon. For electrical appliances that guzzle power (such as my two TVs and ref), I've a separate breaker for all of them (one single breaker). My TVs have surge strips connected to 1500N AVRs. Same goes for my ref. Also, after a power outage, I don't turn the TVs and/or on immediately because there would definitely be a sudden surge in electricity. I usually wait for 10 mins before I open the ref and allow for any of my TVs to be turned on again. For the airconditioner, I wait 15 mins. Some may say this is BS but hey, an extra ounce of protection would not hurt.

Here's a nice article for you: How to Choose Surge Protection for your Home

[BlueBimmer]

bili ng ORIG JAPAN na AVR like STAVOL, 500W nito costs more or less 4k..ito ung mga orig talaga na totoong AVR.

yung mga cheap na 1-1.5k di yan reliable.

pwede rin mga cheap avr with time delay para pag biglang balik ng current di agad papasok sa appliances ang kuryente.

pero i recommend mga STAVOL talaga.

[Syuryuken]

Bili ka ng extension na may surge protector ganyan lang ginagamit ko sa server ko hindi ako naglagay ng AVR kahit dun sa 30 unit na PC ayos naman 5 years ng ganun ang setup. Yung AVR may mga defective din yan pa sumisira pag nagtagal.

[leinahtan]

I have the following Power on Delay for my appliances at home:
Ref - Ref Mate Power on Delay from Euroflex
Aircon - Aircon Mate with Power on Delay and timer with fan socket
TVs - I got these small power on delay adaptor on each unit.
PC - same as above on TVs
Laptop - not grounded but I made it a point not to use it when expecting heavy rains with lightning resulting to power outages.
Iron - Iron Mate. One that shuts the unit's power off when hanged.

[pup2]

Totoo yun. AVR's sometimes not only fail, they sometimes get broken without giving any obvious sign they're broken kaya umiiwas na ako sa AVR's.

Yes, grounding of 3 pronged plugs is good whenever possible pero AFAIK dapat grounded din yung pinagkakabitan.

Dati, a near hit by lightning zapped most of my electronics except yung nakakabit sa grounded surge protector ko -- my LAN card STILL got fried though, possibly by the EM Pulse.

[ghosthunter]

How do you properly protect appliances from power surges?

The projector tv & PC at my parent's house got fried last weekend. According to them, the electricity flickered for a second then that's it. :cry:

For the PC, I installed before a surge strip & an AVR - the room has a dedicated breaker. For the TV, it is equipped with a transformer & a dedicated fuse box.

Aside from these, what additional protection can I add the next time around?

For laptops, do I also ground it (for those with a three prong outlet)?

You can try using a power-on delay... like the one's available for refrigerators and air conditioners. Even some more expensive voltage regulators have this feature.

What kills electrical appliances is the sudden electrical spike when power is suddenly returned. So if you delay the return of electrical supply to the appliance, it should be fine.

[1D4LV]

before i was using a ref guard which delays power to the fridge.
pero two years ago, my ref still got fried.

invested in a TVSS (transient voltage surge supressor) which protects the whole house na. concern ko rin kasi yung computer, yung TV (eh plasma pa...) tsaka yung mga aircons namin.

[BlueBimmer]

thats coz appliances can still be fried even if may power on delay devices..its best to pair these up with genuine heavy duty AVRs, para kahit biglang nagsurge ang current even up to 300V ay protektado pa rin appliance mo AND no appliance interruption.

[A121]

bili ng ORIG JAPAN na AVR like STAVOL, 500W nito costs more or less 4k..ito ung mga orig talaga na totoong AVR.

yung mga cheap na 1-1.5k di yan reliable.

pwede rin mga cheap avr with time delay para pag biglang balik ng current di agad papasok sa appliances ang kuryente.

pero i recommend mga STAVOL talaga.

yes. ok yung stavol, gamit namin yung sa probinsya where power fluctuations are very frequent.

[oldblue]

yup orig na AVR lang ang puwede dyan katulad ng nabibili sa Ace Hardware

halos 4k nga lang isa. pero sa raon may tig 2k, same specs

[umzzzzz]

APC Back-UPS anyone?

[XTO]

awa ng Diyos none so far from sudden electrical surge though we have a
circuit breaker aside sa main switch fuses. but i think 2 years ago, sa buong
area namin daming tv ang nagputukan at nasira. amf hindi sa outlet nanggaling kundi sa cable dumaan kaya pag kumikidlat off lahat ng tv sa min.

[mazdamazda]

Bili ka ng extension na may surge protector ganyan lang ginagamit ko sa server ko hindi ako naglagay ng AVR kahit dun sa 30 unit na PC ayos naman 5 years ng ganun ang setup. Yung AVR may mga defective din yan pa sumisira pag nagtagal.

As I've stated, the computer has a surge protector + a generic AVR... still the computer got fried. Still not sure of the extent of the damage. I've been using computers for the last 15 years and this is the first time that it happened to us.

M2, yes ground the laptop. For your ref, get an AVR with more than 1500N rating. A 500N rating AVR won't cut it. Trust me - my laptop got fried a couple of years ago when a strong electrical surge went through my 500N AVR.

When you say 1500N, that's 1500W too right? If that is the case, would it consume 1500W regardless of the amount of load that's plugged in it?

bili ng ORIG JAPAN na AVR like STAVOL, 500W nito costs more or less 4k..ito ung mga orig talaga na totoong AVR.

Any other cheaper alternatives? Parang ang mahal naman kasi kung per major appliance ay kakabitan ng tig 4K+ na AVR.

[A121]

* mazdamazda,

hanap po kayo nung voltage regulator na may servo motor control. baka may cheaper alternatives kasi. ganyan po yung stavic. maririnig mo syang tumutunog kapag nag try nyang i-regulate yung voltage pag may fluctuations.

[shampooking]

ref - power on delay, 300 petot lang sa ace hardware
pc - a dependable ups, don't go for the cheap brands
TIP: get a bigger ups for your pc, say 700va and above then gawan
mo extension. dun mo isaksak small appliances without motors or
heating elements (cellphone, radio, tv, etc) basta wag lalampas
sa rated wattage. Di pwede motorized apps (electric fan, ref, etc)
aircon - timer and power on delay, 1,000 - 2500 sa ace hardware

I also tried yung power conditioners na nasa infomercials, so far naging long lasting yun mga lightbulbs ko sa bahay.

[XTO]

m2 please check the fuse amperes na nakakabit sa main switch. dapat 30
lang baka mataas say 50 to 60 kaya lumulusot.

[shampooking]

m2 please check the fuse amperes na nakakabit sa main switch. dapat 30
lang baka mataas say 50 to 60 kaya lumulusot.

or the circuit breaker ampacity

[VtEC]

How do you properly protect appliances from power surges?

The projector tv & PC at my parent's house got fried last weekend. According to them, the electricity flickered for a second then that's it. :cry:

For the PC, I installed before a surge strip & an AVR - the room has a dedicated breaker. For the TV, it is equipped with a transformer & a dedicated fuse box.

Aside from these, what additional protection can I add the next time around?

For laptops, do I also ground it (for those with a three prong outlet)?

I suggest you buy a transient eliminator instead of buying individual surge protector per major appliances. This will definitely control all excess voltage coming thru the main panel.It is directly installed to the line side.While for the grounding, adding a grounding on your laptop will only do you good if your electrical system is really equipped with grounding.