Power Surge Protection

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
4,328
113
This doesn't affect me directly with solar,
But my friend has a new washing machine.....
the pump to empty the water/rinse cycle just blew up

Technico said it was surges...new one installed

Is there a fix to protect those surges ??

I have read about schools here losing their whole computer room - 10-12 computers to fire as a result of the power instability.

Quick fixes ??
Any ideas
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,069
6,216
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South Coast
We have a whole house voltage regulator. Ask any electrician, Dominicans call them “cebolla” (onion). Not expensive and they work. We do have ours adjusted every so often, after a couple of years usually. 
 

josh2203

Bronze
Dec 5, 2013
1,535
512
113
I was wondering if just using a surge protector bar would work equally well

Fast easy fix

Cannot offer any expert advice, just that I worked for a while for a company with an office in Santo Domingo, pretty expensive high-end equipment, the electricity was pretty unstable at times, and we had these extension bars with surge protectors, and they seemed to work well. Occasionally though, even those blew up, in which case they had a stock of spare surge protectors. As far as I know, no new equipment had to be purchased due to getting fried... Then again, most of the equipment came with the "blocks"/adapters that you have in the laptop cord, so I'd assume that also protects to some degree...
 

cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
40,964
936
113
I was wondering if just using a surge protector bar would work equally well

Fast easy fix
Depends on the surge. They have a set joules limit.

We had a copper rod installed at our old house very inexpensively.
 

chico bill

Dogs Better than People
May 6, 2016
12,543
6,306
113
A copper rod in the ground around 3' to the main box will ground the entire house.

Most inverters will also act as a surge protector. if the house is grounded.

Ground rods don't prevent transient voltages such as power surges and spikes and 3' isn't deep enough they should be 8'-10'. Things like a washing machine pump should have some internal protection but if it is one of the new digital types, like the LG or Samsung electronic machines a surge could fry a lot - more likely the circuit boards than the pump itself
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
4,328
113
Josh
The repair man seemed to recognize the problem....

I'd hate the problem to be the whole machine instead of the little water evacuation pump
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,069
6,216
113
South Coast
The other day the batteries for the inverter powering the refrigerator and box freezer died quickly when we lost electricity. We thought we needed new batteries (again) or the inverter wasn’t working properly. Called the inverter guy, who thankfully came over as soon as electricity returned. Nothing wrong with either, the voltage from street was so pitiful that it was insufficient to charge the batteries. He made an adjustment to our voltage regulator (cebolla) and voila!  500 pesos and we were back in business 
 

JD Jones

Moderator:North Coast,Santo Domingo,SW Coast,Covid
Jan 7, 2016
11,589
8,064
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The other day the batteries for the inverter powering the refrigerator and box freezer died quickly when we lost electricity. We thought we needed new batteries (again) or the inverter wasn’t working properly. Called the inverter guy, who thankfully came over as soon as electricity returned. Nothing wrong with either, the voltage from street was so pitiful that it was insufficient to charge the batteries. He made an adjustment to our voltage regulator (cebolla) and voila!  500 pesos and we were back in business 

Ugh.. Ya gotta be real careful with that one. Do you have your own dedicated transformer for your house, or are you hooked to the line everybody connects to?
 

JD Jones

Moderator:North Coast,Santo Domingo,SW Coast,Covid
Jan 7, 2016
11,589
8,064
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No transformer. We considered it, but never did it.

You should look again. The difference has to be seen to be believed. Well worth the expense IMHO. I've done it twice. Both times the hardest part was finding a transformer.

Let a voltage spike wreak havoc on the inverter, and the cost to repair it will make you wish you did.
 

Tom0910

Well-known member
Sep 28, 2015
884
640
113
You should look again. The difference has to be seen to be believed. Well worth the expense IMHO. I've done it twice. Both times the hardest part was finding a transformer.

Let a voltage spike wreak havoc on the inverter, and the cost to repair it will make you wish you did.
do you have an approximate cost for a transformer and installation?
 

JD Jones

Moderator:North Coast,Santo Domingo,SW Coast,Covid
Jan 7, 2016
11,589
8,064
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do you have an approximate cost for a transformer and installation?

No. The last time I did it was over 10 years ago.

But in any event, you need to have an electrical Engineer to do the installation.

An EE will give you an estimate for the entire job so you can make a educated decision.

Even better if you can find one that works in one of the electric companies.
 

Jaime809

Bronze
Aug 23, 2012
1,152
0
36
I was wondering if just using a surge protector bar would work equally well

Fast easy fix

In order of protection:
Surge protector - voltage spikes
Line conditioner - spikes and dips
UPS - spikes, dips, brownouts, and power drops
Generator - spikes, dips, brownouts, and extended power drops
 

beeza

Silver
Nov 2, 2006
3,479
731
113
Actually, "brown outs" are more frequent and just as damaging as power spikes or surges. A 'brown out' is when the supplied voltage and frequency dip below normal. A lower voltage will cause equipment to draw excess current whilst operating. Excess current = excess heat in wires, coils and electronic components leading to failure, or even fire.

Abnormal frequency can cause anything with a transformer to overheat too.

For a washing machine, i would recommend an appliance surge protector. It plugs into the outlet and you plug the cord of the appliance into the protector. They use a traffic light indicator. Green, all good. Red, power is not good. Amber, power is good, but waiting suitable time for power supply to stabilize and the appliance to recover or reset. About 900 pesos in most good ferreterias.
 

Olly

Bronze
Mar 12, 2007
1,914
104
63
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
 

bigbird

Gold
May 1, 2005
7,375
163
0
.....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..........

Yes, someone who understands. I get the impression that some think you just pound a rod in the ground, connect all your green wires and viola we are grounded. A little more to it than that plus as one knows in la rep dom a green wire can mean anything.