Surge protector

[John Connor]

I have a felling this may be a long drown out thread if Wetom post's. All I want to know is if I should replace a surge protector after x amount of years? This is what I read since they are a fire hazard after so long.

 

[imagoon]

While I wouldn't consider it highly technical, there is no easy way to know when a varistor set has failed without extra equipment. I would generally say yes, replace them every so often. Anything recent should have the varistor set fused to prevent them from causing a fire. The issue is that some fuse the protection side so if it blows, the strip continues to work without the protection stage.

To test the varistor stage you would need equipment that can bring the voltage up to the break point while limiting current so you don't completely fry it during the test. The little LED's on the strip don't always tell you the whole story.

 

[John Connor]

Crap! I have two ten year old surge protectors that should be replaced. But I'm not sure if there have been surges. We did have lightning strike the substation down the road and caused a what I think was a spike.