Surge protectors

Losing a drive to a thunderstorm last saturday reminded me of an interesting conversation I had with a salesman/geek at a retail store a few months ago.
He told me that the life of a typical store-bought surge protector was about a year. Each time it takes a hit from a surge on a line, the varistors in the circuitry degradea little bit, and eventually you end up with an expensive extension cord that offers no more protection at all.
Gave me pause for thought, as I wasn't in the habit of replacing the surge protectors every year.
I'm inthe market right now, though.

Any other thoughts?

 

Agreed with Robo. Sounds like you live in an area where you need serious surge protection.

It's nice to hear a story about a PC shop guy that knows what he's talking about. The Metal Oxide Varistors used in surge suppressors (even the expensive ones) are usually pretty cheap parts and will degrade over time. I'd venture to say the surge supressor you were using is less than worthless after that hit, and may be a fire hazard now.

Here's a link I found for a company that doesn't use MOVs in their surge suppressors. More expensive, but probably worth it in your case.

http://www.zerosurge.com/HTML/sitemap.html