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Meter Base and Plug-in Surge Protection

How the Meter Base surge protector COMPLEMENTS other surge protection devices

com·ple·ment

noun

/ˈkämpləmənt/

  1. A thing that completes or brings to perfection.
  2. Add to (something) in a way that enhances or improves it; makes it perfect.

Increased dependence on technologies that support our day-to-day living have generated a lot of conversations about the benefits of surge protection for modern appliances and high value electronics. This article will help readers understand how the meter base surge protector plays a complementary role in protecting customer homes from electrical surge events.


If you ask a customer if they have surge protection installed at their home, many will say “yes” based upon their having plug-in surge protectors at their entertainment centers and computer work stations. Some may even share that they have an older hard-wire surge protector installed at their electrical panel.


While both of these steps are good starting points, installation of a meter base surge protector will go far in creating a significant line of defense, protecting homes, appliances and sensitive electronics from electrical surges that attempt entry via the electrical power feed to the home.


Why is the meter base surge protector so important?

  • -An electrical surge enters a home at a very high rate of speed, ricocheting around electrical circuits, in search of an easy path to earth ground in less than 50 millionths of a second.
  • -Based upon their high-speed, electrical surges are unable to perform a “U-turn” either at the plug-in device or at a hard-wire surge protector (if one is installed at the electrical panel). This can create high levels of surge energy at the electrical panel and plug-in surge protector as the surge attempts to reverse direction.
  • -But why do they have to turn around? Because they are looking for the best path to earth ground which is typically the ground rod below the electric meter.

Rather than require that an electrical surge execute a “U-turn”, the meter base surge protector monitors incoming power and simply performs like a high speed interstate highway off ramp causing the surge to veer off and head straight down to the earth ground below the electric meter.


With just shy of 1-million meter base surge protectors installed across the country, the meter base surge protector has proven its ability to complement plug-in hard-wire surge protectors by sending potentially damaging surges to earth ground outside… before they can enter and cause damage.