Surge protector
I know the best kind are the ones which would be wired into the system, but saw this today and wondered if it would be any good. Is this a "better than nothing" or "you get what you pay for" situation...
Forum Discussion
This summary from NEMA Surge Protection Institute says regarding UL 1449, the standard for surge protection devices:
As a generalization, UL addresses electrical product safety in areas that involve a risk of fire, electric shock, or injury to persons. UL verifies the safe operation of SPDs through a listing or component recognition process including a series of stringent destructive and non-destructive tests. These ensure safe operation during normal operation and at the unit’s end of life.
This summary outlines the changes in the 3rd (2006) edition and the classification of SPD's into 4 basic types.
Performance falls under IEEE as outlined here.
There are of course, other safety orgs. standards that may sometimes be used instead of UL like CSA and ETL. Any electrical product bearing a UL or CSA label has passed an extremely rigorous list of tests in a lab before it can become listed/certified. Only products that have these labels should be used in the US and Canada.
As a generalization, UL addresses electrical product safety in areas that involve a risk of fire, electric shock, or injury to persons. UL verifies the safe operation of SPDs through a listing or component recognition process including a series of stringent destructive and non-destructive tests. These ensure safe operation during normal operation and at the unit’s end of life.
This summary outlines the changes in the 3rd (2006) edition and the classification of SPD's into 4 basic types.
Performance falls under IEEE as outlined here.
There are of course, other safety orgs. standards that may sometimes be used instead of UL like CSA and ETL. Any electrical product bearing a UL or CSA label has passed an extremely rigorous list of tests in a lab before it can become listed/certified. Only products that have these labels should be used in the US and Canada.
