Total Home Surge Protector

I would run the ground wire for the coax and other things back to the panel. Much better than relying on the conduit.

As for the additional ground rod, I am not sure... In general more grounding is better but they do need to be connected together well and I am not sure of the code issues. The most important thing is for all the grounds to be connected. I have seen a small ground rod added for telephone or TV - this is a very bad practice and not allowed by code. The two ground systems can have substantial voltage between them.
 
Thank you Jim.
 
Here in the Midwest there is a ground rod adjacent to the electric ingress which is next to the telco and cable ingress box.
 
This grounding rod was installed many years ago.  It is about 6 inches from the side of the house (brick).
 
Outside Telco box and cable box and other coaxial cables today utilize that ground stake.
 
Inside the same coaxial cables (and others) go to pairing blocks.  The blocks have ground terminals on them and are connected to the nearest metal conduit via grounding clamps.
 
Would it be better to put a heavy guage wire from the ground stake to the fuse panel?  It is only about 2 feet away.
 
Found this just now...looking outside now and the ground stake is also grounded to the metal cover of the electrical ingress (meter box).  The copper 1" pipe which feeds the irrigation system is also about a foot away from the ground stake.  Would that be better to use?
 
In the U.S., the ground rods must be bonded (permanently connected to) the electrical service ground which will in turn be bonded to any conductive water pipes in the house for safety reasons. Still the current path from you antenna feed lines to your ground rod(s) is external to the house.
Click to expand...
 
The latest NEC mandates all systems be tied back to the same EG point as the electrical. CWG is no longer accepted, though it must still be bonded. Always a bad idea to introduce multiple ground points irregardless.
 
I am guessing then I am OK. 
 
The ground stake is connected with a strap of copper to the metal case of the electric ingress. 
 
The exterior to interior telco, cable and satellite cables pass to the ground stake via Lightning arresters. 
 
The exterior AC switch is grounded via the conduit right now to the fuse panel. 
 
I did notice too that the new water meter is all plastic these days.  The ground strap connected to the ingress (to the fuse panel) has always crossed over to the other side of the water meter.  That said though to date never have used the water pipes anywhere for grounding sticking always to utilizing the electrical conduit.
 
The wiring here is typical I guess for the early 2000's with hot and neutral in all of the boxes.  In FL during the new construction there (also in the early 2000's) the electrician utilized 3 wire plus a bare copper ground romex for all of the electricity. (no metal conduit or boxes except for the fuse panel). 
 
In the 1980's recall having an issue with conduit / grounding / AC voltage.  I had a detached garage.  I was cutting the lawn one day and was putting the lawnmower stuff away in the garage.  I dropped the metal lawnmower hook again one conduit in the garage and saw a spark. The metal hook was sitting on a small puddle of water on the cement floor in the garage.  The conduit in the garage was hot.  Found out later that the large tree / roots in the back yard had grown into the AC wire chase (romex) going to the garage.  I used a VOM to measure the electric from the conduit to earth ground and it was around 100 VAC or so at the time.
 
It was a real PITA to fix and run new power to the garage from the house at the time cuz it was all under a cement slab (which was new when we purchased the old home)
 
In Florida; FLP (Florida Light and Power) offers a direct bus connection surge sheild for $10.95 per month plus taxes. 
 
Thinking other utility companies are offering similiar deals. 
 
Lightning there in FL always blows the fuse on the Rainbird controller setup (grounded and all).
 
surgeshield_meter.gif

 
Wondering how easy it would be to purchase one of these and DIY the installation?
 
pete_c said:
In Florida; FLP (Florida Light and Power) offers a direct bus connection surge sheild for $10.95 per month plus taxes. 
 
Thinking other utility companies are offering similiar deals. 
 
Lightning there in FL always blows the fuse on the Rainbird controller setup (grounded and all).
 
surgeshield_meter.gif

 
Wondering how easy it would be to purchase one of these and DIY the installation?
Click to expand...
 
You can purchase those - lots of options when I was looking years ago.
As someone who does all of my own work (including my panel-based house protector)... I would let a pro handle that!
 
Yup; here have removed my meter to work on the ingress electric a few times. 
 
Note that I would also suggest to let a guru electrician handle that (and its been low on the WAF a few times).
 
Quick question.. I have been reading through the multiple surge protection threads here, trying to educate myself somewhat on best options out there (whole home suppression). I won't be installing myself as I am not overly confident with panels.  I was going to do something like the Leviton 1 panel (Leviton 51120-1)  or the Eaton CHSPT2ULTRA but found the Leviton 52120 -M2 which has replaceable surge models (also apparently replaced for free by Leviton (not confirmed on this!).   
 
My question is that I have 2 panels in my garage in which these will need to be installed..  does anyone know if the 52120-M2 would provide coverage for both panels (via having 2 surge models) or would I need 2 units, similar to the other units, which I know I would need to get two of?  That would be a deal breaker for me considering the cost of the M2 over the 51120-1 or the Eatons.  
 
I have so much HA gear that I think I am taking a lot of risk without protection.  
 
Thanks in advance!
 
PS - I will also ask the electrician to investigate my grounding situation and see if it needs to be upgraded along with the SPD installs, since I know that is more important overall.  

52120-CM

52120-CM
 
That whole thing does involve grounding and personally I would protect the subpanels in the garage autonomously. That is a guess though.
 
There is an Eaton PDF posted in this link which goes into the granular details of methodologies of protection.  Does the document provide you with any more insight?
 
I have read quite a bit of documentation but admit that much of it is beyond my technical understanding.  I don't know if I have any issues with grounding in my home, but figured that having the electrician verify/check it out wouldn't hurt while getting the surge protection installed.  I just wasn't sure if the one unit could cover multiple panels, in that the unit has multiple surge modules.  I thought that might mean each would be wired to a different panel (or if you had mission critical devices, both could protect one panel, etc).  Financially it makes more sense to go with the 2 leviton or Eaton units, one for each panel.. I just thought it might be good long term to get the one with replaceable modules, since I live in area with pretty significant thunderstorms.  
 
Slates said:
Quick question.. I have been reading through the multiple surge protection threads here, trying to educate myself somewhat on best options out there (whole home suppression). I won't be installing myself as I am not overly confident with panels.  I was going to do something like the Leviton 1 panel (Leviton 51120-1)  or the Eaton CHSPT2ULTRA but found the Leviton 52120 -M2 which has replaceable surge models (also apparently replaced for free by Leviton (not confirmed on this!).   
 
My question is that I have 2 panels in my garage in which these will need to be installed..  does anyone know if the 52120-M2 would provide coverage for both panels (via having 2 surge models) or would I need 2 units, similar to the other units, which I know I would need to get two of?  That would be a deal breaker for me considering the cost of the M2 over the 51120-1 or the Eatons.  
 
I have so much HA gear that I think I am taking a lot of risk without protection.  
 
Thanks in advance!
 
PS - I will also ask the electrician to investigate my grounding situation and see if it needs to be upgraded along with the SPD installs, since I know that is more important overall.  
52120-CM 52120-CM
Click to expand...
 
The most important place to put a whole house surge protector is where the utility line enters your house (i.e. your main panel).   Some homes have two main panels, each with its own line back to the electric meter box.  In that case, you would want a surge protector on each panel.  An alternative would be a surge protector in the meter box (some utilities offer these).
 
If you have subpanels within your house that are wired back to the main panel, it's less important to place surge protectors on the subpanels if you have one on the main panel.  There's nothing wrong with additional surge protectors in the subpanels if you want to spend the money.  But start with the main panel.
 
If you have separate outbuildings, such as a garage, that are fed from the main panel in the house, then it is a good idea to put surge protectors on them, since it's possible for the cable feeding from the house to the garage to pick up a surge, and the surge protector back in the main panel won't do much good.
 
I wouldn't get too hung up on the replaceable modules.  For most folks, having the surge protector fail is a rare event.  And if it does, it isn't that big a deal to replace it.  So the extra cost of a model with replaceable modules might not be worth it.
 
You said you have two subpanels in the garage.  Is the garage a separate building, or attached to the house?  Does each subpanel have its own feed back to the main panel?  Or is one daisy chained off the other?   If the garage is a separate building and each panel has its own feed from the main panel, then I would add a surge protector to each subpanel.
 
Here main ground strap is in a 1" metal conduit (there are other grounds) which goes to the copper pipe that feeds water to the house.  There is another ground strap that connects the copper pipe to the other side of the water meter.
 
The above noted it is said that lightning (one type of surge) will chose the closest path to ground wherever that may be.
 
It does get a bit involved.
 
Attached is a video overview.  It is from Eaton and Eaton centric. 
 
http://bcove.me/oxoxsz7v
 
Here is a more granular look. - part 1 and part 2 and more commercial than residential.
 
http://youtu.be/iMUuVqB1vI8
 
http://youtu.be/hUVPbHIgEsY
 
Thanks for the info.  I probably misspoke.  I have two main panels in the garage (attached to the house).  These panels are on the inside wall of the garage, and on the outside of the same wall is the meter.  So I am assuming I have the 2 main panels, each sourced to the meter situation.  I also have a sub-panel by the pool equipment, but as you said, I am not worried as much about that (unless I should be!).  
 
If the two main panels each are sourced back to the meter, then the two best options would be to place a surge protector on the meter, or place two surge protectors, with one on each main panel.  If you place a surge protector on just one panel, it will provide some protection for the other panel, but it won't do as good a job as having a second surge protector.  
 
With surge protectors, it's really important to keep the wires to them as short as possible.  With a single protector on one panel, the second panel would essentially be upstream from the surge protector.  There's probably several feet of wire between where the protector would be, back to the meter and into the second panel.  Even though it is heavy wire (e.g. 4/0), during a surge, you are dealing with extremely large currents.  The small resistance in the wire coupled with the high current could allow a substantial voltage difference between the panels, and that could result in damage to anything connected to the second panel.
 
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