The snow was falling and the wind was howling when the little girl looked out the window & screemed

This is a True Story That I became a part of just today!
The little girl screamed as she heard a crack and saw a big blue flash of light just where the tree branch fell onto the transformer mounted high up on the telephone pole outside near the street! The house went dark for 2 Days, but not before there was a spark behind the pellet stove control panel as the big power surge ripped through and burned out the Tripp Lite surge protector’s protection circuit and smoked the 5 Amp GMA glass fuse on the control panel and fried the circuit board!
I put a new fuse in the board and just plugged the stove back in in vein as I heard a crack and saw a big spark! All the other components and motors tested fine but that control panel was a goner!
So we put in a new control panel and a new Tripp Lite surge protector but now we know this just may not be enough in this Bedford MA location!
So what do ye all say folks? How can we stop a deadly charge?
Would surge breakers in the circuit box along with the Tripp Lite Outlet surge protector in the pellet stove’s outlet stop a deadly jolt?

Pic 1 - Tripp Lite with no green protection lite on!
Pic 2 - Blown fuse in fried circuit board!
Pic 3 - Front of fried circuit board
Pic 4 - New Tripp Lite Surge Protector with green protection light on
Pic 5 - New Control Panel and Stove is now alive and working!

 

Sorry to hear that.
I've never believed the "hype" about surge protectors.

Coming from an IT past, I only put stock in UPS systems. The output power is supposed to be protected via the battery and the charging system, acting as a firewall.

I've lost a surround system,Xbox, and DVD player due to lightning strikes, but no PC's when on a UPS.

Possibly just luck, but I don't think so.

Just my .02

Although I did lose an internal modem once through the phone line.

 

I agree 100% about the UPS is much better protection! I have seen these surge protectors work for smaller surges, however for lighting struck and telephone pole transformers blowing up, these surge protectors just do not seem to be good enough!
However UPS systems are expensive and when the batteries need replacing it becomes a throw away unit due to costly and hard to get rechargeable batteries!
I have the Tripp Lite and surge breakers in the circuit panel and my electrician said it should be enough?
I still do not know for sure?

 

the distribution protection should normal kick in to protect the citizenry. But if there was a fault in front of your house the cycle time to clear was probably too long to protect your delicates and you became collateral damage. UPS and fault protection can be packaged together, but their different animals, and not on your power strip.
Bad luck it sounds like.

 

True enough that the batteries are most of the cost in a UPS system, I don't think they're that hard to find, but do usually run close to 75% of a new system.

Don't know how much the control board costs, so can't make a determination on if the cost is justified. From your post, I'll assume it's not.

So, yeah this one gets chalked up to bad luck and/or ch## happens.

 

The control panels run $200 to $400 depending upon the stove. This is an extreme case where this good surge protector actually failed, In fact it is the first time in 5 years I did see this one fail!
I did see a case where the neutral wire was ripped off the house and fried the control panel but there was no surge protection.
Also I saw a case where a generator blew a Control Panel but again there was no surge protection.

 

Well, I stated my opinion on surge protectors, I'm not a believer.

Just out of curiosity, most of them have a "guarantee", did you contact them at all so see if they'd pay for the new board?

 

Not my stove. ???

 

So now I revert to my near constant state of confusion.

Should that be read that you are 'not' the homeowner, but hired to fix the stove?

That would explain..

But not the "???" afterwards.

As stated, clarification would be most welcome.

 

Perhaps I should clarify.

Most surge protectors have some form of guarantee. Did you contact the surge protector manufacturer at all?

I don't know how well those companies honor their guarantees, but they might cover some of the repair costs.

Sorry for the lack of clarity in my earlier post.

 

Oh not that is ok. I just fixed the stove, it is not mine. I also do not know a case where these companies ever made good on the surge protection warranty either so I do not want to be envolved,

 

AC electric has a mind of it's own sometimes.

 

Hello
Looks like this Trippe Lite IS250 isolation transformer would also protect the stove
Jet.com - Prices Drop As You Shop

 

They will Don - before the advent of modern UPS units: these were the "UPS" units of the 80's and 90's .. With much the same basic design, as 30-40 years ago.. Lot's of copper & iron in these units. ( Eesh, I'm getting old. )

FWIW, a Cyberpower 1,500 PFC UPS unit will provide the same protection, with about an hour time (more or less) on a running, protected stove .. FYI.