My house, as I said before, has the works: electric hot water, electric dryer, 4 air conditioners, pool pump, water pump, big fridge, dish washer, 3 led tvs, electric front gate...the whole gringo setup.
I would love your recommendation.
No surge protector provides protection. Protection is provided by the only 'system component' that absorbs energy - earth ground. A protector is only a connecting device. Protection means every wire in every incoming cable must connect short to earth. Typically less than 10 feet to earth.
Surges seek earth ground. Either that energy dissipates harmlessly in earth. Or that energy is inside the building seeking earth destructively via appliances. Your choice. Buildings are so full of conductive materials that a surge will find many sneaky or obvious paths destructively via appliances.
All appliances contain significant protection. A 'whole house' protector is earthed so that the rare transient (typically once every seven years) does not overwhelm that protection. So that everything is protected. Note numbers on any minimally acceptable protector. Numbers that exceed a typical direct lightning strike. An effective ?whole house? protector must conduct a complete surge - and remain functional. Effective protection means nobody even knows the surge existed. Not even the protector is damaged from a direct lightning strike.
But a protector is only as effective as the thing that provides protection - earth ground. How do you make a protector even better? Upgrade the earthing. Not just a larger network of ground rods or a buried loops surrounding the building. Also critical is how the protector connects to earth. For example, the safety ground in a typical receptacle may be 50 feet to earth. So long as to be all but no earthing. Receptacles only have safety grounds; not earth grounds.
That ground wire must be short (ie 'less than 10 feet'). No sharp bends. Every ground separate until all meet at that earthing electrode. Wire separated from non-ground wires. Not inside metallic conduit. For example, a ground wire from the breaker box, over the foundation, and down to earth will compromise protection. Better protection means a wire goes through the foundation and down to earth. Shorter wire. Eliminate 90 degree bends. Ground wire separated other wires above the box. All factors so that the protection 'system' connects more energy into earth.
What will a power strip do? How to quickly identify ineffective protectors. 1) It has no dedicated connection for that always required short connection to earth. 2) Manufacturer avoids all discussion of earthing. 3) It does not claim protection from a typically destructive surge in its numeric specs.
Many somehow believe a little part inside a power strip (rated at hundreds of joules) will absorb surges that are hundreds of thousands of joules. If it cannot absorb a surge, then what does it do? Sometimes, power strip protectors earth that surge destructively via adjacent appliances. We have traced such events. Why does it happen? A power strip protector simply connects a surge to more wires. Gives a surge more paths to find earth ground destructively via some nearby appliance. Either the appliance plugged into it or an appliance across the room. Once inside a building, that energy must dissipate somewhere. Surge protection is always about where that energy dissipates.
Protection is defined by the quality of single point ground. Every incoming utility must connect to that ground. Either directly - without any protector (cable TV, satellite dish). Or via a 'whole house' protector (AC electric, telephone). Only component always required in every protection system - earth ground. Why do plug-in protectors not discuss what provides protection? View their profit margins. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground - which is why an earthing connection must both meet and exceed code requirements.