Surge Protection

Your electricity and electrical appliances are so much a part of your life, you hardly think about them until there’s trouble. Trouble comes in the form of power surges caused by such events as lightning strikes, cars colliding with utility poles, limbs falling on electrical lines, and demand fluctuations within the home. Any of these occurrences could send uncontrolled electrical surges into your home’s wiring and damage the appliances and electronic equipment you depend on.

A power surge can come into a home through any wire, including antenna lines, telephone wires and television cable lines. A comprehensive home power protection program can help eliminate the risk of costly and inconvenient damage caused by power surges. Whether the disturbance is natural or man-made, small-scale or catastrophic, today’s sophisticated protective systems can make your equipment more dependable than ever before.

Many power-surge problems in a home can be associated with improper wiring and grounding. Grounding must adhere to the requirements of manufacturers, local code, and the National Electrical Code (NEC) for safety as well as for proper operation of any surge protection system. Commonly overlooked problems include improperly grounded main disconnects and circuit devices. NEC recommends that multiple grounds (such as those at telephone and CATV service entrances, satellite poles and dishes, metal well casings, and antenna towers) be bonded together to reference a common ground.

To prevent voltage surges from entering your home and doing damage, a comprehensive home surge protection system adds two stages of protective devices to your power connections: a meter adapter, installed by your electric cooperative outside your home, and plug-in surge protection devices which you install in your home.

Together, these two stages of surge protection help prevent disturbances from outside and inside the home.

Benefits That Really Hit Home

Suppression of electrical disturbances has evolved over the years from fuses to breakers to basic over-the-counter surge protectors, none of which is sophisticated enough to protect today’s sensitive digital products, comfort systems, and home office equipment from power disturbances.

More than anyone else, your electric cooperative understands the elements which can affect your power supply, and the ways to prevent damage to your property when lightning (or any other power surge) strikes. We can give you detailed information and assistance in outfitting your home or business, and can provide you with the best forms of surge protection available. Your Member Services Representative can help you take advantage of the advanced protection systems available today.

Using two stages of protection, Webster Electric Cooperative’s program can protect ALL the electronic devices in your home.

A meter adapter between your meter and your house provides the first stage of protection. Your whole electrical system is buffered from major power surges and your white appliances are protected from damage.

Surge protection strips provide a second buffer for sensitive home electronics against surges inside your home and large surges that may get past the first stage.

Whole House Protectors

The first stage of our program involves the installation of a device designed to stop lightning and other surges from entering your home and damaging your appliances.

The Surge Diverter defends your home at the electric service entrance against power surges up to 300,000 amps. This meter adapter will be installed by a Webster Electric Cooperative representative, to protect against most surges originating outside the home.

In cases where the Surge Diverter cannot fit the meter base or the meter base exceeds 200 amps, protection is still available through a device wired directly into your electric meter panel or meter base.

Surge Suppressors

The second stage of our program involves the use of surge suppression strips inside your home. These strips, which you purchase and install depending on your needs, protect sensitive home electronics such as portable phones, television and stereo equipment and home computers.

Some of the best in-home protection for home computers or other equipment that needs back-up power is the use of an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). This unit supplies power through a battery, to protect against electrical outages. You may purchase a UPS in a range of configurations, depending on the amount of equipment used and the length of battery time needed.

A House Full Of Benefits From Our Program

• A broad range of protection for hard- wired appliances such as dishwashers, clothes washers and dryers, and comfort systems.
• Additional plug- in protection for sensitive electronic equipment such as computers, televisions, satellite equipment, fax machines, and telephones.
• Increased protection from surges inside the home, including those caused by wiring problems, loose connections, and fluctuating demand from large motors (such as vacuum cleaners, major appliances, and heating and cooling equipment).
• Less worry about expensive repairs, major inconveniences and disruptions caused by damage to appliances and equipment you depend on every day.
• Better understanding and implementation of the program through information and installation support from Webster Electric Cooperative.

Surge Protectors

• 1 AC Outlet with 1 phone line 4 wire (SYC-1FF2) Security for any equipment connected to a one-pair or two-pair telephone line RJ-11 jack, including cordless phones, fax and answering machines, and home security systems with telephone interconnects. Lifetime guarantee........$24.01.
• 7 AC Strip with phone jack, 6 foot cord (SYC-7TA1) Versatile surge protection for any application using a phone line connection, such as a computer workstation with modem, fax machine, cordless telephone or credit card verification machine. Cord length is 6 feel, with 7 outlets and one telephone line protector. Lifetime guarantee.........$28.73.
• 7 AC Outlet, 1 CATV Coax, 6 foot cord (SYC-7C) Protect televisions and entertainment centers with one CATV/antenna coax by installing this 7-outlet strip with 6-foot cord. Lifetime guarantee.......$35.30.
• 8 AC Outlet with Itelco, 2 Coax (SYC-8TAC-2) If your TV/VCR is connected to a satellite dish with external antenna/CATV, guard the setup with this 8-outlet strip. Protects one telephone line and two coaxial cables. Lifetime guarantee........$59.66.
• 50 DA 1 P hardwired panel protection (SYC-120/240TC) These devices protect well pumps from surges up to 7,500 amps. They're hard-wired and can be installed in high-moisture environments, including most well heads. Lifetime guarantee........$39.21 product only or $89.21 INSTALLED.
• Surge Diverter Meter Base (SYC-240A) Surge diverter meter base whole-house protector. For the average home. The meter base systems provide guaranteed protection on electro-mechanical devices (a/c, furnace, refrigerator, washer, dryer, range, etc.; not computer based equipment like TVs, computers or microwaves). Comes with a 15 year warranty........$166.70 INSTALLED.
• 300 KA Panel or Service Stack (SYC-240AHW) Surge diverter meter base whole-house protector. For homes with "40 times" or "CT" meters (larger or all-electric homes).....$166.70 INSTALLED.

If any of the aforementioned products or services would be of interest to you either in your home or business please feel free to contact the cooperative’s Member Service Representative, Bill Dudley, for more information.