Surge Protection in Rock Island, IL
The expensive part of a modern appliance is the control board, and a surge is what takes it out. In a Rock Island home the damage is rarely one dramatic strike. It is the small repeated hits made inside the house every time a well pump, an air conditioning compressor or a furnace blower drops off the line, plus whatever the grid hands you during a summer storm across the valley.
What this means in Rock Island
An arrestor at the panel only works as well as the grounding behind it, and that is the catch in an older house. Where the grounding electrode is a single old rod, or the water pipe bond was lost when somebody put plastic in the line, we fix the earth first. Clamping a surge to a ground that does not go anywhere achieves very little.
Panel space is the other constraint. Some older boards here have no room for a breaker-style arrestor, in which case a side-mounted unit at the service works instead. Point-of-use protectors then go on the furnace control, the range, the television and the home office, because the panel device is the first line and not the only one.
Part of the electrical work we do in Rock Island, IL, and of Surge Protection across the Quad Cities.
How the layers work
- At the panelA service-entrance arrestor takes the first and largest hit and diverts it to ground before it gets out onto your circuits.
- At the sensitive equipmentA point-of-use protector at the furnace, the pump control, the television or the office gear clamps the smaller residual energy.
- Grounding underneath bothNeither layer works better than the ground it dumps into, so we check the grounding electrode and the bonding while we are in the panel.
Surge Protection in Rock Island: questions
Will a whole-house surge protector fit my Rock Island panel?
Usually, one way or another. Newer panels take a breaker-style arrestor; older ones with no spare spaces take a side-mounted unit next to the service. We check the panel before quoting.
Does surge protection in Rock Island help with lightning?
It helps with what lightning does to the grid nearby, which is the common case. Nothing installed at a panel is a guarantee against a direct strike on the house.
Do I still need plug-in protectors in a Rock Island house with a panel arrestor?
Yes, for the sensitive things. The panel device knocks down the large events; the plug-in unit deals with what gets past it and with surges generated downstream inside the house.
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