Surge Protection & Inspection Intervals

No as long as you can see the check window. But it will be like RCDs hardly anyone will check up on them.

Should they be checked daily?


If not, why not?


Andy B

Mornings or afternoons Andy?

If it is considered that an unskilled person could not, safely, replace an SPD surge module;- Should the recommended interval until the next inspection be shortened if an SPD is part of the Installation (to take into account the limited operating life of the SPD).

I don't quite see the connection. RCDs aren't user replaceable, but we don't reduce the inspection interval for installations that contain them. In both cases users can check their status (by pressing the T button on RCDs or looking at the indicator window on SPDs) and then call in an electrician when necessary.


In any event, many SPDs seem to be 'pluggable' so may well be suited for user replacement anyway (at least I don't recall any instructions saying not to be replaced by unskilled).


    - Andy.

This time of year most storms are later in the day, so perhaps in the mornings before equipment is put into use to check the SPD did not operate the night before.


How it’s not inconceivable that there could be a double whammy, a second surge shortly after the SPD devices failed, maybe a audio or visual alarm is required to allow you to shut down parts of the installation and take appliances out of service.


So, the question is, what is the likelihood of a double whammy?


Andy B

Acceptably low - or we'd have been fitting them for years already.  Running for a few months with the protection absent is not likely to have much effect. In places where the kit really must be protected, then protection would be cascaded and redundant so that when one lot fails the second remains, and have telemetry installed to report failure. It's in the same league as the self testing RCD - hard to justify in most cases.

There’s been quite a few car analogies lately on this forum, to add another one it would certainly slow you down and temper your behaviour if the brakes on your car or van were single use devices.

When I were a lad, some folk would unplug the telly before bed or unplug the aerial, or a combination of the two. It was considered foolish to watch the telly during a thunder storm.


As, probably, a suburbanite, It seems that I should have SPD, except that I don't think that we have sufficient vulnerable gear.


So what are home-owners supposed to do? Check the SPD after every thunder storm? On the basis that any over-voltage may occur any time, check every day?


Back to the motoring analogy, I am sure that the careful members of this forum inspect their tyres on a daily basis. Why not? ?

The telly still gets disconnected during thunderstorms in our house, who am I to argue?