Surge Suppression!!!: By Harry

Mother Nature has not been friendly to low voltage systems. I now laugh looking back on the first 'Surge Suppression' method I was introduced to. I had been through 'tech school' and thought I had a handle on what electricity was, I was WRONG. My supervisor was walking me through trimming (finishing) out a panel for the system we had installed. At the end I was tying down the pig-tail phone cable that plugs into the RJ-31x box. This is the quick disconnect box from the phone line to a panel, for those that have never had to install one. He stopped me and said 'You need to tie a knot in the cable'. Well, I will let you know now, I did what he said, when he said it, and did it quickly.

I installed systems that way for 9 more months until my review. I finally felt I had a good work relationship with the boss to ask, "Why am I tying a knot in the phone line?' He said in a short voice, 'Oh that's just in case lightning hits the phone line, the surge will blow out the 22 gauge wire and not the panel'. Until this point I had all the confidence in my supervisor, but that was not the answer I was looking for. This was also the same guy that had me in an attic that summer looking for a knot in a wire that was shorted. They had a good laugh on me over that one.

With a single lightning strike, I have seen entire systems destroyed. One particular facility my company serviced was damaged by lightning, resulting in a loss of 90% of the total system. We repaired it, recommending installation of surge suppression. The customer wanted to hold off, until he could work that into his budget. Sure enough two weeks later on the next storm, lightning destroyed their system again. Customers do not enjoy knowing after the fact that lightning surge suppression is available. They enjoy even less knowing it is a fraction of the cost of the total system.

I insist on the installation of surge suppression for all of my systems now. I recommend working with customers, and installing them on annual inspections. As a bare minimum the head end equipment should always be protected. Installation of the devices is an excellent training opportunity for the new technician as well. Surge suppression needs to be installed EXACTLY as the manufacturer recommends. I can't recommend or emphasize enough the value of surge suppression. I would rather have a customer feel they were buying magic beans, than know the feeling of buying a second or third system due to the fact that 'Mother Nature' does happen. Surge suppression might not save 100% of your system, but it will make losses a minimum. And no, tying knots in the end of your coax line, power line, or data line is not going to help one bit.