A power strip protects whatever is plugged into it. A panel device protects everything else: the range, the pump, the heating controls, the built-in appliances, and every fitting with electronics in it, which is now most of them.
grounding checked, because it decides whether it works
What it covers
Surge protection covers everything a power strip cannot reach
The expensive things in a house are mostly not plugged into anything you can protect at the socket. A range, a well pump, heating controls, built-in appliances and any hard-wired fitting with a driver in it all sit beyond the reach of a strip, including anything fitted during a light fixture installation.
A device at the panel clamps the surge before it gets past the service, so all of those are covered at once.
It pairs naturally with anything else being done at the panel. If a panel upgrade or panel repair is already booked, adding it then costs the device rather than a visit.
Fresh install
How it runs
Surge protection in Buffalo, four steps
Check the ground first
A surge device with no working earth path is decorative. This gets verified rather than assumed.
Choose the device
Rated for the panel and the service. The expensive ones are not automatically the right ones.
Fit and label
Mounted at the panel on its own breaker, labelled so the next person knows what it is.
Show you the indicator
These degrade with use. You should know where to look and what a failed one looks like.
The limits
Surge protection needs a working ground to do anything
A surge device works by diverting energy to earth. Where the grounding is interrupted or was never continuous, it has nowhere to send it and the device is decorative. That is why we check the ground path before fitting one rather than afterwards, and grounding and bonding covers what that check involves.
The third is that these are consumable. They absorb energy and degrade, and most have an indicator showing whether they are still working. Checking it is a two-second job that almost nobody does, and it belongs on any recurring visit, which maintenance plans sets out.
Outdoor electronics are the other candidate people forget, and outdoor and landscape lighting controls sitting outside are exactly the sort of thing worth protecting.
$200 to $450 installed at an accessible panel, with the device itself $60 to $300. One to two hours on site. Example ranges, not quotes.
It covers different things. A strip protects what is plugged into it; a panel device protects the range, the pump, the heating controls and every hard-wired fitting. Both together is the sensible answer.
No, and anyone saying so is overselling it. It reduces what gets past the service. Sensitive electronics still benefit from a strip behind it.
Because a surge device works by diverting energy to earth. With an interrupted ground path it has nowhere to send it and does nothing at all.
Yes. They absorb energy and degrade, and most have an indicator. Checking it takes two seconds and almost nobody does, so we show you where to look.
A panel device covers everything downstream, which is the house. Sensitive equipment still benefits from a second device at the outlet, because the panel device cannot stop everything on its own.
Customer reviews
What Buffalo homeowners say about their surge protection
