Surge Protectors or not??
Hey, Y'all. I downloaded a list from someone on the internet & one of the things it recommended was to get a Surge Protector. It went on to say that some of the sites hook up devices are not in good s...
Forum Discussion
otrfun wrote:
Sounds like trustymopar's lightning hit was pretty substantial. When confronted with a massive surge, the circuitry in some surge protectors are designed to self-destruct, "open", stopping all current flow.
Never happens. An example of a conclusion based in speculation; not in well proven science and how electricity works.
First, a surge is a current source. That means voltage increases as necessary to blow through anything that might foolishly try to block it. Do you really believe its 2 cm protector part would stop what three miles of sky could not? A first example of how conclusions must include science and numbers.
Second, every part that would 'block' a current (ie switch, fuse, circuit breaker) has a voltage number. If voltage exceeds that number, then an open switch, fuse, etc will not stop that current flow. For the same reason that lightning can flow through a best electrical insulator (air).
Third, that current is everywhere, simultaneously, in a path from cloud to earthborne charges. How does a protector part stop a current after that current is already in all parts and doing damage? Worse, that 'opening' takes milliseconds or longer. Surges are done in microseconds. Long after a surge is done damage, then that protector part opens. In this example, how electricity works is also defined by the number 'time'.
Three layman examples of what must be known before any observation contributes to an informed conclusion.
Any protector that works by failing is ineffective; best considered a scam. No effective protector works that way.
Meanwhile, does that protector model address that type of surge? If not, it could suffer internal damage; and still do nothing to protect other appliances.
Some protectors can even make damage easier (contradicting another popular urban myth that something is better than nothing) while also suffering internal damage.
Useful answers start with which 'surge' that protector model is designed and installed to protect from. Observation without facts and numbers creates classic junk science conclusions.
