Review on Siemens FS140 Whole House Protection by Hector Smith

SEARCH: Help protect electrical appliances and other components and devices in my home. I live in rural Missouri and our electric utility is a co-operative utility that primarily buys and resells electricity to off-grid customers. Our experience with this cooperative has shown us that the electricity is nowhere near as stable as with the "big city" electricity suppliers. We regularly experience power fluctuations as well as random blackouts, blackouts, brown power, and permanent blackouts. The internal relays in my UPS for my computer go crazy after about a day (switching back and forth on battery power) due to voltage fluctuations. To complicate matters further, we live in the Midwest where thunderstorms occur that are quite spectacular but not as kind to our current at home. OTHER PRODUCTS TESTED: I've tried competing products like Delta, Intermatic and a few others including those offered by Co-Op but I can't say I was very well protected. Last year a thunderstorm destroyed my new fridge, washing machine and pressure tank for my well water system. I just bought a new HVAC heating and cooling system that I don't want to end up frying, so I started looking. protected because you have some kind of box or device plugged into your panel and therefore you feel that all your expensive electronic devices are safe. And then there are store-bought strips of surge protectors that are rated in Joule and Guaranteed Insurance Coverage. They might start off well and offer limited protection for anything plugged into them, but after less than a year where I live they start to fail because frequent power surges cause the surge protection to degrade. Also, I have yet to hear of anyone successfully filing an insurance claim and collecting money for damage to their electrical equipment that was plugged into surge protectors. I'm not saying they never offer protection, just that they can wear out pretty quickly and you might not be aware of it unless you have a protection gauge. Additionally, the level of surge protection provided by these connector assemblies may not be able to handle severe surges, even when the connector assemblies are brand new. and it impressed me, at least on paper. This is a UL 1449 Listed Type 2 Surge Protection Device (SPD) with a 10 year limited warranty on the FS140 and attached equipment in your home. It offers 900V phase-to-phase (LL) surge protection and offers 600V phase-to-neutral (LN), phase-to-earth (LG), and neutral-to-earth surge protection. Surges to ground (NG) complying with the voltage protection ratings of UL 1449, 3rd edition. It has a voltage clamp response time of less than 1 nanosecond, which is very fast and essential for protecting your sensitive electronic equipment. What I like about this product is that it has 3 levels of protection status notification so you always know if you are protected or not: (1) it has an audible alarm, (2) it has protection status LEDs, and (3) there's also a red service LED (to alert you if power or wiring is compromised). The device is well built with quality in mind; not the cheap plastic material used in some competing products. This device has a NEMA 4X enclosure that is rated for indoor and outdoor use. This is a very durable product. It measures approximately 8-1/4" long, 3-5/8" wide and 3" tall. It has a hole on the body for the connection of line threaded tubing or 3/4" threaded fittings. INSTALLATION: It is recommended that this unit be installed by a qualified electrician unless you are familiar and familiar with electrical panels, circuit breakers and methods of house wiring.It is also recommended that a suitable voltmeter be used.I decided Siemens called to get their opinion on the installation and was very impressed by the level of knowledge, experience, friendliness and helpfulness. The Siemens engineer (Ken) was a genius. His input enabled me to install the FS140 with confidence and professionalism, to perform as intended by the manufacturer. was a little skeptical about how well the device would fare against surges, coincidentally, a thunderstorm swept through the area less than a week later d and as a result we had a power outage due to a lightning strike less than half a mile away. About 30 minutes later, power came back (this included power surges) and the FS140 lit up, indicating a protected status. More importantly, nothing in our home, including our new HVAC system, was affected by electrical surges from a nearby thunderstorm. Not only do I feel protected, but this device is proven and I'm sure it will pay for itself when you factor in the cost of repairing electrical equipment and devices that would otherwise be damaged by unprotected surges. Thank you Siemens. EDIT: [.] The link above is a very good article on whole home surge protectors written by an outside reviewer in which he reviews many products. Although the Siemens product was not included in the test as it is a newer product than at the time of writing this article, the Siemens FS140 outperforms all tested products and would have taken first place. Also, in another third-party article, I found that two-tier protection, including service panel surge protection and point-of-use (plug-and-strip) surge protection, is a very effective way to fully protect your electrical components. What most people don't realize is that phone lines and cable/satellite connections also suffer a fairly high percentage of damage, so everything connected to them (like TVs, cable and satellite boxes, modems, routers, cordless and landline phones). endangered. . without additional protection on coaxial lines and modular telephone lines.