[ubuntu-uk] Preventing lightning strike & surges

[Neil Greenwood]

On 26/05/07, Robin Menneer <robinmenneer at gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks for advices.  On the mains side we have the necessary earth and
> voltage trips, and the earth trip works well in thunder storms, plunging us
> into darkness safely.  But is this device quick enough to protect my
> computers ?  We're at the end of a long rural line and so are unlikely to
> get voltage surges resulting from load changes.   It seems that a 13amp 4
> gang socket with telephone protection as recommended on this list is a
> reasonable course of action but can anyone tell me if they are one-shot and
> have to be replaced, or are resettable/automatic resetting ?  How reliable
> are they in protecting the phone input (broadband etc).  Another course of
> action is to spend out and get a power back-up which may contain its own
> protection?   Robin

Hi Robin,

The earth/voltage trips should be fast enough to protect your
computers, at least the power supply side of the equation. If you're
happy with the power supply protection, you might be able to find a
phone line protector that is cheaper than the combined power/phone
extension lead. As Nik suggested, try asking a qualified electrician
for advice.

The advantage to using something like the multiway extension lead in
you situation is that you get phone line protection too, and that (at
least with my Belkin one) the manufacture offers a guarantee if your
equipment gets damaged while using one properly (<tongue-in-cheek>What
have the Romans ever done for us</tongue-in-cheek>).

And one last thing, my Belkin extension lead has 6 sockets, so they
are available in smaller and larger sizes.

Hwyl,
Neil.