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Surge protection - monitoring effectiveness.

whjohnson
Ok, so folk are all going mad and fitting SPD consumer units et al.

BUT - How effective will they actually be?

In other words, what steps are in place to monitor and record the effectiveness of these devices?

So the flag turns from green to red over time, yet the consumer unit continues to deliver regardless, and the customer notices nothing changing, in the same way that they never test RCDs by using the test button.

How will we ever know whether or not these devices are actually worth the money? Or is it a case of another successful snake oil sale?

How long will it be before a future EICR flags up the fact that the SPD has 'died'.?
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    That's a good question.  I wonder if the manufacturer's are selling versions with alarm outputs, if not, then maybe they should.  Just an intermittent beep, a bit like a low battery alarm on smoke detectors, would do the job.


    It'll be interesting to hear if any such things exist!
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    SPDs have a limited life and it is essential to warn when they are becoming ineffective, for that reason select one with alarm output. In larger schemes connect to the BMS.


    mrf
  • 0

    It'll be interesting to hear if any such things exist!





    They certainly do e.g. https://www.toolstation.com/wylex-type-2-spdt2/p93366 - the green terminals are the 'remote indication contacts'


       - Andy.
  • 0
    At £73 a chuck they can keep it!

    Anyway, unlike the recording of the likely no of fatalities prevented by the fitting of RCDs, the fact remains that there is no real mechanism in place for recording the effectiveness of SPDs as far as I know, so I guess we'll never really know the true extent of the perceived benefits of fitting them.

    The message seems to be 'We at the wiring regulations committee are requiring you to fit them - do not ask awkward questions'.
  • 0
    Perhaps the insurance industry will keep some statistics about claims - home contents - electrical equipment damage/destruction following thunder storm?

       - Andy.
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    At £73 a chuck they can keep it!






    I investigated the aftermath of a surge for an insurance company. Estimated cost of damage £125K.


    mrf


  • 0
    I suppose that puts in to context the nuclear bomb reported in Morecambe in the 1970s that did fifteen quid worth of damage then?
  • 0
    Sounds like loss of data server to a business to me.

    Anyway, I do have to ask why an externally originated event such as a 'surge' has to be mitigated by the end user rather than the generator?

    It seems that it is yet again a risk transfer from the DNO's insurance lawyers to that of the small man at the end of the chain,i.e. us.

    "Make em fit SPDs and let their insurers pay out instead of ours" seems to be the outcome of a successful lobbying exercise by the power companies to the wiring regs committee.


    How do these things mitigate a surge when an isolation transformer is in cct? Surely the rise in energy in the primary is replicated to a degree in the secondary depending upon the turns ration? If this is the case, then surely there is still risk of damage to any electronics downstream?

    How about the effects upon a step-up transfomer too?
  • 0

    whjohnson:

    Sounds like loss of data server to a business to me.

    Anyway, I do have to ask why an externally originated event such as a 'surge' has to be mitigated by the end user rather than the generator?

    It seems that it is yet again a risk transfer from the DNO's insurance lawyers to that of the small man at the end of the chain,i.e. us.

    "Make em fit SPDs and let their insurers pay out instead of ours" seems to be the outcome of a successful lobbying exercise by the power companies to the wiring regs committee.

     



    Because lightning strikes aren't the fault of the DNO, and there's not a lot they can realistically do to prevent them.  We could all pay extra on our electricity bolls to pay the DNOs to install surge protectors all over the place, but is that really any improvement?




    How do these things mitigate a surge when an isolation transformer is in cct? Surely the rise in energy in the primary is replicated to a degree in the secondary depending upon the turns ration? If this is the case, then surely there is still risk of damage to any electronics downstream?

    How about the effects upon a step-up transfomer too?



    Effectively, the surge protector shorts out your supply for a moment if the voltage significantly exceeds what it should be.  It relies on the line impedance to limit the current.  Once the surge protector has absorbed one to many spikes, it goes pop and stops working.
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    AJJewsbury:




    It'll be interesting to hear if any such things exist!





    They certainly do e.g. https://www.toolstation.com/wylex-type-2-spdt2/p93366 - the green terminals are the 'remote indication contacts'


       - Andy.

     




    Thanks.  Do they do the annoying beep as well? Not that there's nothing out there to purpose as that.

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