I have a tall building 200m away and have always hoped it would attract the lightning away from my humble abode… Wishful thinking of course.
Hi @DanielH ,
Have a look at CleanVolt. Their devices provide whole house lightning strike surge protection, Type 1, 2 and 3 surge protection, and power quality enhancement.
“The devices use a patented silicon carbide varistor technology contained in a small box that is installed on the side of an electrical panel and is wired into a breaker. When installed in the system CLEAN-VOLT not only provides the best surge protection available today, but it also becomes the path of least resistance for energy surging – generally within 10% of the RMS of the system (132V in a 120V system).”
The fact that CLEAN-VOLT clamping ability happens within the fundamental waveform allows it to clean dirty power."
We experience a lot of electrical storms in our area, and have had zero damage to any equipment in the house since installing a CleanVolt six years ago. I don’t switch off equipment or unplug either. As a bonus, sound quality has improved.
Jan
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No. I just unplug if it’s looking a bit stormy with electrical storms. I unplug anyway if there are periods where it’s not in use
The use of varistors across the AC feeds as surge protection devices is pretty normal in many AC powered devices or distribution strips. About 20 years ago i built my own mains filter for my hifi that made use of a pair of these varistors as surge protection: Not sure how they think they could patented the idea…
They would not help with a close lightning strike, really there just to protect against minor spikes in mains supply. Note they should also be considered consumable as each spike tend to “burn” a little hole through, so they will eventually become ineffectual.
I stopped using my home-made mains filter when i moved to using Naim amps, as so many posts on this forum suggesting not a good idea with Naim.
Thanks for the feedback. Regarding consumability, CleanVolt claim as follows:
“With its unique ability to withstand daily occurrences with no appreciable degradation, CLEAN-VOLTTM can last 100 years under normal operating conditions. This technology will provide the end user with years of premium protection, all backed by a lifetime product warranty.”
Absolutely RCDs are nothing to do with surge protection. RCDs detect residual current loss - ie there is an imbalance between Live and Neutral - which can only mean current is being lost to Earth in varying degrees. It’s a safety device.
An SPD - Surge Protection Device or TVSS - Transient Voltage Surge Suppressor - is designed to remove voltage spikes to protect equipment. You can get combined dual RCD/SPD devices for consumer units now.
I live in the USA , Northeast. We get a lot of thunder and lightning storms in the summer. My first line of defense is shut it all down and unplug. I use a Shunyata Denali S6000 V.2 if the storm is very local as I mentioned I’ll turn the gear off then disconnect the Shunyata from the wall. FYI if lighting hits your house your hifi is gonna be the least of your worries. 
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You are dead right! If the storm is very local so you unplug when lightning strikes, you’ll be toast with that mains plug in your hands.
I have no idea about surge protection - although I wonder if he’s the smutty French chappie who wrote ‘Je T’Aime (Moi Non Plus)’ for the very nice but very naughty Jane Birkin and sang on the record with her?
Funny. You know what I meant. If I see on the Weather Channel that a big storm is moving in I’ll preemptively shut down and disconnect! If it’s that time of year when evening storms are common I’ll just leave the system disconnected, too be on the safe side😁
Very witty. Pointless to this discussion, but witty nonetheless.
Not all SP devices are the same, and not all nearby lighting strikes have the same effect, which makes most of what’s been said here either anecdotal or mere speculation. Unless you never wander off too far from the premises of your house I’d recommend using a quality, purpose built SP device. Take a look at either ZeroSurge or Brickwall (same technology), in my system the use ZeroSurge makes no discernible difference in SQ.
Well, I hope that we can all have a little break from high seriousness occasionally to have a laugh at good clean smut!
@llatpoh76 Absolutely 100% correct! I use a ZeroSurge on my TV, Sound Bar, BlueRay, NAS, Router, and Cable TV Box. Never worry about those items! The big system in the listening room gets completely disconnected and shutdown.
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Do not use a surge protector, have never used one, and have never had equipment damaged due to a power surge.
I did however run a dedicated circuit for my hi-fi system, with oversized conductors, so I could get the “stiffest” possible AC source for my gear.
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