Multiple Surge Protectors - Short #236

HVAC School - For Techs, By Techs

Bryan Orr

Training, Careers, Airconditioning, Self-improvement, Hvac, Business, Education, Refrigeration, Heating, Ac, Apprenticeship

4.8 • 985 Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2025

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this short podcast episode, Bryan answers a listener-submitted question asking whether you can use another surge protector at the disconnect panel with an ICM 493 already in place.

Using multiple surge protectors in the configuration described does NOT count as daisy-chaining. Surge protectors with MOVs (metal oxide varistors) shunt current from high voltage to ground by reducing their resistance. MOVs are sacrificial, so they wear out over time. Surge protectors don't last forever, so installing multiple is a fine idea.

You can have whole-home surge protection with additional surge protectors positioned at the appliances/electronics. While it can be done and doesn't hurt anything, it's not the most cost-effective solution.

When you install a surge protector, wire it in parallel with the circuit to ground. It should be wired properly with the shortest possible path to ground. In any case, many surge protectors won't hold up against direct lightning strikes, but they will protect the equipment from power surges after power comes back on or constant overvoltage.

Our company, Kalos Services, now uses DITEK's Kool Guard 2 as our surge protector and voltage monitor of choice. They also provide warranties for their products, which have come in handy for customers.

Learn more about the DITEK Kool Guard 2 at https://www.diteksurgeprotection.com/product-series/intelligent-voltage-monitoring/.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, hey, hey, this is the HVAC school podcast. I am Brian, and this is the podcast that helps you remember some things you might have forgotten along the way as well as, as well has, as well as helps you remember some things you might have forgot to know in the first place. And today we have a question from a listener, and it is a written question
0:23.0	this time. And we're going to get to that right before we hear from our great brand sponsors.
0:28.9	Carrier and Carrier.com.
0:31.1	Navak and Navak Global.com and the break-free power flaring tool, model NEF6LM.
0:40.4	Refrigeration Technologies at RefridgeTech.com.
0:44.5	The ESCO Institute, with over 200 HVACR training solutions, courses, webinars, and simulators,
0:50.8	find out more by going to escogroup.org.
0:56.0	All right, so here's the question.
0:57.5	The question is, I was wondering about search protection devices.
1:01.4	If you use an ICM 493, and that has a search protector in it already, which is correct,
1:08.1	is it also okay to use an additional search protector on the
1:11.8	disconnect panel that feeds power to the ICM 493? Can this cause any issues? Is this considered
1:17.4	a form of daisy chaining? Okay, well, it's a good question, and so this is a pretty simple answer.
1:23.8	No, it's not considered daisy chaining because what does a search protector do? A search protector uses something called a metal oxide verister, an MOV, and a lot of people
1:32.5	will say, well, no, mine has a TPMOV.
1:34.5	That just means thermally protected MOV, so it just has a thermal protection in there,
1:39.2	so it doesn't go into thermal runaway and overheat or catch on fire or anything like that.
1:43.7	And all it's designed to do
1:44.7	is, is that when you have very high voltages, MOVs actually drop in resistance, allowing you to
1:50.8	shunt some of that current that's coming down the line to ground. And this only happens for milliseconds.
1:56.6	I mean, it's just an instantaneous thing. And they're actually sacrificial. So over time, they do wear out.
2:02.3	They become damaged.
	...

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