Question How does a Surge Protector work?

[Joe Dutchstar]

Something of interest that most folks do not think about, a surge protector life span is measured in Joules. During the lifespan of a surge protector it will absorb all those spike events that go unnoticed by the user turning the event into heat. Eventually the Joule limit will be reached and the surge protector, hopefully, fail. Note that in the attached article a dumb power strip may end up not protecting at some point. Hopefully our more expensive surge protectors will fail or give some other indication that they are not working correctly.

Why (and When) You Need to Replace Your Surge Protector

Surge protectors aren't like diamonds.

www.howtogeek.com

 

[Gizmo]

When I took the lighting strike it took a hammer and pry bar to get my Progressive unplugged from the pole. There were burn marks on the cord between the pedestal and the progressive and on the case and no visible damage of the cord between progressive and the coach. I did have several circuit breakers tripped in the coach but everything still worked. A couple of months later my Furion Surround sound amp quite working which could be results of the strike.
I have Surge Guard 40100 transfer switch that I thought had surge protection but after chasing down the specs I found that it doesn't. I will be looking for surge protection only for inside the coach and still use the progressive 50 EMS at the pole.