Hi all, WW , There have been a lot of threads on DR1 about Surge. Spike Protection over the years and here are a few :
http://www.dr1.com/forums/living/85843-transcient-voltage-protection.html
Spike protection for electrical items
and these date from 2009 and earlier.
I think WW you need to look at what the problem was : a burnt out motor
This would have happened if there was a surge for a significant period.
So the problem is protecting from Surges. A surge is significant over voltage for 1 to 2 seconds.
A Voltage regulator will do that and also an invertor if it is set up correctly. As this was a washing machine it is unlikely to be included in the invertor circuits as the load can be pretty large.
Regulator Sizing it is important - a 5kW regulator would be ok for most of the house but pumps like pool pumps should not be included but a washing machine should be OK
We are set up with the Washing Machine, pool pump , water pump and water heaters not on the 5.2 kW 220 Volt invertor we have but the rest of the house is. To protect these we installed THQLSURGE units by GE , and one THSASURGE60 also by GE. These are all available in the US and on line. Not very expensive really. The surge suppression is rate at 80kA which is pretty good and and these are available in the US at $100 to $200.
THSASURGE60 required an earth/ground , but in the instructions for fitting them there are alternatives in no "earth/ground" is available. THQLSURGE fits directly into any GE Load centre so is easy to fit.
These units protect the washing Machine from "Surges" - that is significant over voltage for a significant period of time - ie about 1 or 2 seconds.
Our invertor is set up to cut in on "low volts" of 95 Volts AC and also "high volts" at 130 volts AC . These settings protect much of the rest of the house from surges and the change over speed is ok for many things but not fast enough for Computer or modems and TV boxes. So these items also have UPS on them to provide a faster change over speed- and provide additional spike protection.
We have had this in place now for over 10 years and only on one occasion had a problem - that was a lightning strike about 200 mtrs away that hit the O/H ground wire. It blow only one of the wall plug in units and the rest was fine!
So WW - it is important to protect against surges and a Voltage Regulator will do that for washing machine motors but not necessarily for "Spikes" which will effect the machines electronics. So I would suggest a belt and braces approach Voltage regulator sized correctly and GE THQLSURGE fitted at the service entry.
I might also add that I have found a lot of problems with "Floating Neutral" and it is worth checking the Neutral connection back to the meter. If you are unsure about your supply your electric bill it shows you what type of connection you have - it is probably Baja "120/240 Doble Monofasica"
This would be three wire - two hot and one neutral. A high resistance "Neutral" can cause all sorts of problem.
I have always found this an interesting subject with a lot of confusion - so I hope this helps.
Olly - the Engineer