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A- How do I choose the right surge protector for a garage door opener?

I recently experienced the effect of a power surge after a lightning and lost a few items. So my question is how to prevent another round.

B- I read conflicting recommendations and want to know where to go for reliable suggestions for a typical home setup in USA.

C- Do I secure coax line? How? Some say if you connect coax to a surge protector then the line itself may melt.

D- Does replacing cable with fiber optics give any protection? If not how do I protect fiber?

E- How do I choose a surge protector for each appliance? For example does a refrigerator go on same type of surge protector they sell for computers? How about AC units, water heaters, washer/dryers, or anything connected to electricity?

F- Does a whole house surge protector protects each device or do I need an additional surge protector at each device?

Related questions: Link 1,

Maesumi
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  • Many (most?) UPSs and surge protectors come with built in surge protection for Coax and Ethernet/phone cables. Plug the cable from the wall into the protector, run another cable to the destination. Job done. Fiber optics doesn't transmit electricity, it transmits light along a glass fiber. You don't need surge protection on it. Well... any amount of electricity large enough to manage to work its way along the glass will blow out any surge protector you might install at home, then jump the gap where the electronic components _used_ to be. – FreeMan Aug 23 '21 at 17:49
  • Also, _if_ a coax cable were to "melt" from a surge, but the surge protector were to stop the damage there, wouldn't that be preferable to having all that power go through your electronics again? Replacing a few feet of coax is _cheap_... – FreeMan Aug 23 '21 at 17:51
  • This question currently includes multiple questions in one. It should focus on one problem only. – isherwood Aug 30 '21 at 19:07

2 Answers2

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A whole house protector is for the whole house.

These days if you add up each appliance that has electronics in them, end up buying many power surge protectors, that will most likely add up to more than a whole house one(maybe 200$).

There are separate surge protectors that have in/out coax protection, unknown how good or if there is speed/signal lost.

Most whole house protectors go into main breaker panel and need a double breaker space. Can be DIY or Electrician job, usually quite short time to do.

crip659
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  1. There are 'lightning protectors' specifically designed for coax cable. You can put one on. OR You can get a computer surge protector with sockets for coax and lan cables.

  2. Fiber optics do not conduct electricity, so they are 'safe', but you will need to replace the communication devices on both ends, which is not free, and again those devices may get damaged.

  3. Surge protection goes in layers. At final level (next to appliances) you have the computer surge protectors (make sure they actually have surge protection and are not just a power strip with fancy switch). You can use those for all sensitive devices - computers, modems, refrigerators. Do not use them for high-power devices with heating elements like: stoves, washing machines, hairdryers, power tools etc - the switches may melt ;-).

Another layer of protection would be a whole house surge protector - mind these are not cheap and take a lot of space. They do not replace the 'final line of defense' that surge protector strips provide, but reduce the voltage these have to tackle, so they last longer.

If you want to protect the automatic gate, or refrigerator, those generally won't need a surge protector computer strip, if you have a whole house surge protection. If you do not plan on whole house surge protection, then absolutely go ahead and plug fridge and gate into surge protector strips to keep them safe. Just put the cable out of the way, so it doesn't snatch anything when opening.

Thomas
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