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Hi, this is George with Argo electrical services. And I am the surge protector guy. And this is podcast number five for us concerning whole house surge protection. So first off, I wrote down some questions and some, you know statements. So we could be a little organized here. And so the first question I would ask is, why do I need whole house surge protection? Well, surge protectors protect from transient voltage, transient voltages, unwanted voltage in your electrical systems. Generally, this comes from electricity that’s injected via dirty power from the power company, or lightning strikes, sometimes you could get a strike to the house, or you could get a strike to the electric lines outside your home coming in, maybe it hits at the power pole or whatever, but it runs those lines, electricity goes to the point of least resistance just like water. So you know, if you get a lightning strike at the power pole near your house or own your house, it’s going to follow that copper line and run through the system. Okay. I went to a lady’s house in Clermont, Georgia about five years ago, and lightning had struck our house. And you could actually see where it ran the wire close to the sheet rock and actually turn the sheet rock black and Bartha switch up and it blew the two light fixtures completely off the soffit outside of the house. These type of transient voltage situations lightning strikes, whatever you want to call it dirty power. I’ve seen them burn up air conditioning units, they’ll burn up modems, they’ll burn up the electronics and your washing machine, your refrigerator, your microwave ceiling fans, you know, flat screen TVs, and of course, your computers any electronics that you have. And it’s also been implemented into the National Electric Code starting in 2017. Now the code won’t set at the first names of disconnect, which means at your meter base. Now if you have an older home and your meter base doesn’t have slots for extra spaces, the first point of disconnect is going to be in the interior panel, which is more common, I have installed them at the meter base and the interior panel just for safekeeping you know and it’s much easier to replace the surge protection device than it is to you know, file a claim and get your insurance for heating and air unit and have somebody come out there assess the damage is we do this all the time you know flat screen TV to be replaced computers with all your pictures and other stuff on there. So, you know they updated it in 2020 to include you know at the at the first point of disconnect. So anyway what is a surge protector so the way I explain it to my customers that are not familiar with them and not electricians surge protector acts kind of like a spines when the transient voltage shifts the system you know voltage works like magnetics you’ve got you know an alternating current you got a positive and a negative electrons that are running around the wires back into back into it 180 degrees from each other you know all the time constantly and you know the wire that is in your homes rated for like 6000 volts but he’s still only going to hold 15 amps 20 amps 30 amps whatever size the wire is. So anyway this surge protector the sponge, when you get the unwanted voltage when it makes the loop then it’s going to blow out at the weakest spot might be a ground fault circuit interrupter receptacle on the front porch. It might be your computer it might be your wife’s $1,000 washing machine. So anyway, you know those low voltage the electronics on all these devices go through some kind of little transformer and they step it down to low voltage. Well, the low voltage items are very susceptible to lightning strikes and it will smoke them. Okay and like I said just you know this thing acts like a sponge. All of them now have indicator lights so you plug it in, and you can see the two green lights and they let you know that both the legs both 120 volt legs into your home are being protected by this device. If you have multiple panels, you will need more than one. You know, like I said, you can install them at the meter base if you have spaces there. But if you do not, you know, I highly suggest that you do that, like I said, it’s also it’s been in the National Electrical Code now for over six years, and I know I’ve been installing them in homes around northeast Georgia for over 12 or 13 years, we’ve probably done this 200 250 times. So what are the advantages like said it protects your you know, equipment in the home and protects your home from potential fire damage. And you know, and your all your possessions won’t, you know, be chant have the chance of being damaged? So how much should I budget to spend on this installation? Well, most today, you can you can purchase reasonably, you know, these plug on surge protectors, there’s some other stuff out there that you would have to use a breaker to tie into the panel, that’s kind of a separate device that you have to fish in wires into the panel and all I prefer the plug ons because then all you got to do is open the door to the panel every 30 to 60 days. And you can see what they are but you know they’re very reasonable, they start around $200 apiece, something like that, you may be able to get it a little bit cheaper, just depending on where you buy, and how how you search for it. You know, one thing we also do is, we always check the grounding on the homes that were at at your service entrance to meter base. If you have a 200 amp meter base, you should have two ground rods there, one being at least six foot from the meter. And the second one being at least six foot from there tied with at least a number six copper, we always use number four, just because it’s a little bit larger and a little bit more durable. You know that whole deal, we generally charge around $600. For that, it really depends on your electrician, or if you can do it yourself. If you’re not comfortable with working in a situation and you don’t know what you’re doing, I would definitely suggest some research before you started installing this. Because you do have to connect a neutral wire or a white wire to the neutral bar neutral bus. Okay. And, you know, my tips for installation. Like I said, you know, I really liked the plug on ones, do it correctly documented, most of these surge protectors now the companies will give you a warranty on their product, meaning you know, just depending on which surge protector you use, you know, some of them start out around $10,000 If you you get a lightning strike and their surge protector doesn’t protect your equipment, they will you know, give you $10,000 Some of them even go up to $40,000 You need to be sure that you get the brand that a panel. So if you have a Siemens panel, or a square d panel or a Cutler Hammer panel, you need to use those brands, you know, the Cutler Hammer, CH model panels, you will not be able to use an off brand you will have to buy that. But anyway, I said we always do a grounding upgrade as well when the customers wanting it and hearing it. You know that just protects your system. And it keeps you know, a certain amount of pressure pointing back towards the transformer that originally delivers the electrical service to your property. Once again, my name is George Argo, I’m the owner of Argo electrical services. If you’re interested in any of these top services, or if you just got some questions, maybe you just want to talk you know if you lived in Texas, I’m probably not coming to Texas to install whole house surge protection. But you can contact me at 770-596-1437 You can also find us on the web at Argo electrical.com Or you can just Google the at symbol Argo electrical. Have a great day thanks
