surge protector

can anyone give me any information on if we need a surge protector fitted, our house is in manilva/duquesa area.  if so can you recommend anyone in that area and have any i dea of cost.

Thanks

Hi Kernow

A surge protector is effectively essential in Spain as the voltage tends to be unreliable.  If the supply voltage exceeds around 280V AC then household equipment tends to overheat and fail.  This can be very expensive.

Have a look at

http://www.maximeters.es/includes/Surge%20Protection%202.pdf

A local electrician should be able to install a Cirprotec 2MB 40 for around 120€ which will give full protection to your property from permanent surges, assuming there is room in your consumer unit.

This range of surge protectors is the only one I know about that DOESN'T require earth continuity to function.

Age grants me the gift of senility! So, just in case, "I don´t know nuthin´".

Bearing in mind the age of your property, or not, younger places have got a surge protector fitted in a separate panel anyway. Mine has, I can see it from here! (Six years old Duplex).

I thought (claiming senility again) that ALL properties had to have this facility fitted by a certain date anyway?

I also have extra coverage on the computer equipment, via a battery box, to make sure I cover all aspects

Hi Pilgrim,

Great if you DO have one!...but are you sure it's a surge protector?  I have never seen one fitted as standard.

The item in a separate unit could be the ICP (Interruptor de Control de Potencia) which is mandatory in Spain.  This will be rated at 1.1kW (5A), 2.2kW(10A), 3.3kW(15A), 4.4kW(20A)...you get the idea...and looks like any of the other circuit breakers.  You will also have an (some) obligatory RCDs (diferenciales) which protect you from electric shock (in theory at least) by detecting a >40mA difference between the poles.  You can ID these as they have a test button.

Neither of these are surge protectors.

Regarding computers, I would agree that you must always use the most expensive UPS that you can afford, and wire PC/printer/screen etc through it.

Like I said, I can claim senility because now you mention it Max Kite, I am sure I knew that already because we received a communication, some time ago, indicating that if an ICP was not fitted, plus be housed in a separate panel, it must be done!!

I lunged over to my panel area to discover I had one, (sigh of relief!!)

So, apologies to the person with the query and yes, of course, all my computer equipment is protected at different levels as required but maybe I´ll check again to be sure!!

Appreciate your input Max Kite.

When choosing, it is important to understand the difference between transient and permanent surges.

Transient surges are caused by lightning (usually hitting overhead cables up the mountain) and last for a few milliseconds.  Fortunately, on the southern costas, these are relatively rare and are not really economical to protect against as the SP will be discharging a few million volts to earth.  Is your earthing THAT good??

Permanent surges are the problem when the supplier (builder's supply being the worst) fails to control the voltage supply.  This problem is worth guarding against. 

Hope this helps.

Evening Max

"Permanent surges are the problem when the supplier (builder's supply being the worst) fails to control the voltage supply"

As we know there are many people still on builder's supply all over Spain - so they should all guard against the Permanent surges!!

Kind regards

Keith

Thanks for the information, I will get someone to check and if we dont have one will try to organise it.