My electrician recommended the Sycon 120/240 surge protector. He installed it at the top of the line of breakers, nearest the main disconnect. He had to use his Greenlee hole punch because there was no knockout there (the body of it sticks out the side of the box, with a green light to show it's working). It is connected to a 20amp double pole breaker.

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Originally posted by henryaz:
 
My electrician recommended the Sycon 120/240 surge protector. He installed it at the top of the line of breakers, nearest the main disconnect. He had to use his Greenlee hole punch because there was no knockout there. Hooked up to a 20amp double pole breaker.

That's what I have installed on my house. He did it right, find closest KO to make wires short as possible, if one doesn't exist make one. Always use a breaker dedicated to surge, never double up with another one.

I'm probably going to replace it with CH Ultra product. Mine still lights up but I lost something in a storm recently. No way to test any of these units other than their indicator lights. They are consumable products and I recommend replacing every ten years even if still lit up.

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Originally posted by Skins2881:
Always use a breaker dedicated to surge, never double up with another one.

Sure makes it easy to replace/upgrade an existing one

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Originally posted by Skins2881:
I'm probably going to replace [mine] with CH Ultra product.

Any particular reason you're choosing the Eaton product? And which specific model do you plan on?

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Originally posted by Skins2881:
Mine still lights up but I lost something in a storm recently. No way to test any of these units other than their indicator lights. They are consumable products and I recommend replacing every ten years even if still lit up.

Ours, a Leviton 51120-1, as noted earlier, is still lit on both sides, and we haven't lost anything since it was installed, but I have wondered if something newer and better hasn't come along, since, and if I should upgrade it.

Easy enough to do, if you know what you're about with electrical.

A timely topic as I am looking at buying a portable generator and having a Manual Transfer Switch installed. At the same time I'll have the electrician install a whole-house surge suppressor.

If it's not too off-topic, I'd welcome any information/experience that anyone has with line conditioners. I'm slowly narrowing down which portable generator I'll get (will post a separate thread when I get my top five), and THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) varies quite a bit between them. Is there a whole-house line conditoner that will work to clean up the power from some of the less-expensive gen sets that have larger THD values?

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Originally posted by ensigmatic:
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quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
I'm probably going to replace [mine] with CH Ultra product.

Any particular reason you're choosing the Eaton product? And which specific model do you plan on?

The one linked one first or second page, I also listed reviews of several units on same post. I used sycom for years due to raw numbers/specs, price, and warranty. Since I lost something with one installed, lost confidence, probably unavoidable to lose something in that storm, might have saved me from losing five things, but I did, so I'm changing.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Mine still lights up but I lost something in a storm recently. No way to test any of these units other than their indicator lights. They are consumable products and I recommend replacing every ten years even if still lit up.

Ours, a Leviton 51120-1, as noted earlier, is still lit on both sides, and we haven't lost anything since it was installed, but I have wondered if something newer and better hasn't come along, since, and if I should upgrade it.

Probably not unless it's over five years old, not for advancement, but for new MOVs. If you are prone to lots of outages, brownouts, power fluctuating, etc. I'd replace every 5-7 years, if on stable grid 7-10 years.

Easy enough to do, if you know what you're about with electrical.

Lastly don't trust warranty info on side of box. It might sound great, but it's always secondary to any other insurance or warranty, and they have a million ways to deny. The product is for peace of mind only, don't expect them to buy you a new microwave or oven in most (vast majority of) cases.