Ultimate Power Surge!

yuandrew

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 12, 2003
Messages
1,323
Location
Chino Hills, CA
Yikes, does anyone think this can happen

http://www.ptreyeslight.com/stories/mar7/power.html

We don't have a lot of overhead distribution lines in my area but there are high voltage transmission lines running through the hills in some places. None of them are near distribution lines (Well, maybe in the Carbon Canyon but the transmission lines are stretched across the top of the canyon and the distribution lines are 1000' below)

A friend of mine did tell me something similar happened to his neighbors but it was caused a faulty transformer. Somehow, the high voltage primary leaked to the secondary. Blew all the appliances and electronics in their house. No one was home at that time so there wern't any injuries but the damage costed a lot.

Should I get a couple of isolation transformers just to run my laptop? :duck:
 

BB

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 17, 2003
Messages
2,129
Location
SF Bay Area
Utility power surges don't happen often, but they do occur...

Installing isolation transformers may help a little--but will not be a solution.

The best would be an continuous/double conversion UPS (as opposed to a stand-by or line-interactive UPS); one that is always converting the incoming voltage (AC line to battery, battery to inverter). They are out there but cost more and are less efficient than the usual home UPS's. The nice thing about them is that while a stand-by UPS guarantees only a 1/2 cycle drop-out, I found during experiments that a standard PC would still reboot roughly 1 out of 10 power failures with a stand-by UPS. So, if your data/operations are very important to you, then spend 2x for a continuous UPS (these types are generally used in data centers).

Here is a continuous or "double conversion" UPS for about $500 list.

Here is a line-interactive UPS with surge protection that sells for about $100 at Costco. It goes on battery below 89 volts or above 139 volts AC. Has a $250,000 equipment protection warranty.

Another item to think about would be a whole house surge protector. For example, this $200 Leviton unit trips around 500 VAC (Line to Neutral). It is designed for lightning strikes but may help in the case you talked about. These are able to handle much more current/energy than the smaller power strip surge protectors.

-Bill
 
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