Thunder storm season

[coolbranch]

Lightning and voltage surges happen frequently. I have the A10 ResMed plugged into a Tripplite surge suppressor. The A10 cpap does not have a ground prong. How does that work? Without the ground prong, does the surge protector function as it should?

[houstonrockets83]

I believe the protector itself has a ground to protect whatever is plug into it. As long as the protector plug has a ground it should be good to go.

[coolbranch]

I will go with that. The houstonrocket83 name sounds scientific and knowledgeable enough for me.

In other words, the idea of the surge protector is to prevent surges of electricity from ever getting to your device. As long as the surge protector ITSELF is grounded, your devices being ungrounded is irrelevant.

Case closed. Thank you.

[Krelvin]

This is correct. The surge protector will protect against the line spikes but not power drop outs/Brown outs and and certainly not a direct lightning strike.

If you have lots of lightning close to the area, you should unplug electronics you care about.

I think the username houstonrockets83 is a reference to the Houston Rockets a basketball team and perhaps the year? or a player. If it is referring to the year, that would be one of the worst teams of all time.

[coolbranch]

Oh my!

[houstonrockets83]

lol, it is just now for the first time since the early 90's a good time to be a Rockets fan

[Goofproof]

This is correct. The surge protector will protect against the line spikes but not power drop outs/Brown outs and and certainly not a direct lightning strike.

If you have lots of lightning close to the area, you should unplug electronics you care about.

I think the username houstonrockets83 is a reference to the Houston Rockets a basketball team and perhaps the year? or a player. If it is referring to the year, that would be one of the worst teams of all time.

Oh My, you don't think he's a German Rocket scientist, I'll bet he truly is. The house and wiring needs to be correct as do the surge protector, as the protector does it's job, the electrical components can weaken and fail, their is a vast difference in protectors. Jim

[coolbranch]

German maybe, no matter as long as he is on our side.

Many years ago our family unplugged the TV and radio when a lightning storm approached.

Can you imagine the time it would take to unplug everything in an average home these days. AC electric, telephone, coax, ethernet, antenna, cable. Hell the storm would be gone by that time.

[palerider]

Lightning and voltage surges happen frequently. I have the A10 ResMed plugged into a Tripplite surge suppressor. The A10 cpap does not have a ground prong. How does that work? Without the ground prong, does the surge protector function as it should?

the purpose of the ground pin on a power plug is to ground the case of the machine to protect you from an internal short circuit to the case, thus making the case a potential electrical hazard should you touch it, and ground.

anything that is "double insulated" for instance, with a non-conducting plastic case) doesn't *need* a ground wire, which is why your hand mixer, for instance, doesn't have a ground pin on it.

the surge protector should do it's job and prevent the surge from ever getting to the outlets it has on it. (I think that was mentioned).

[englandsf]

Maybe consider a whole house surge protector.

[Deep Sleep]

A good surge protector protects against increases in potential between hot and neutral, hot and ground, and neutral and ground. In the case of a two-wire appliance, you only have to worry about that between hot and neutral. If the surge from nearby lightning comes in on both hot and neutral there is little to no increase in the difference between hot and neutral--they go up and down together. As said above, the purpose of the third ground wire is to protect against a hot to enclosure short that isn't needed in double-insulated appliances. Since neutral and ground are bonded together back at your panel, the current caused by the short to the grounded case trips the breaker. Also as said above, the only sure way to protect against a direct lightning strike on your power line, particularly on just the hot or neutral, is to not have the appliance plugged in.

[chunkyfrog]

The absence of a ground pin on kitchen appliances, for YEARS after they were on power tools,
has always disturbed me. My thought was that somehow, women were not considered
valuable enough to protect from shock.
--And then they started appearing on hair dryers and curling irons, but nothing in the kitchen.
. . . Save the trophy wife, but not the cook?
I always insisted on GFCI outlets in my kitchen, but the codes were not retroactive, to my knowledge.

[Deep Sleep]

Depending on the conductivity of the water it's immersed in, a grounded 3-wire appliance may not even trip the breaker, and even if it does, the time for the breaker to trip may put you into cardiac arrest. GFCI outlets operate on small differences between the currents in the hot and neutral lines, and operate much faster than a breaker. They may be installed in place of a 2-wire outlet as long as the plate is marked, "No Equipment Ground." As they do with 3-wire outlets, they will also protect "downstream" 2-wire outlets. But we're digressing from CPAP equipment protection here.

[westom]

Lightning and voltage surges happen frequently.

Potentially destructive surges occur maybe once every seven years. A number that can vary significantly even in the same town. Most so called surges are only noise. And are made irrelevant by robust protection that already exists in all appliance. How often are you replacing GFCIs, clocks, air conditioner, clock radios, etc. Daily if surge occur as most myths proclaim.

Your concern if the rare transient that can overwhlem that existing internal protection. Nothing adjaecent to an appliance claims to protect from that transient. Facilities that cannot ahve damage use another solution proven by over 100 years of science and experience. This must be located where all utility wires enter the building. Within feet of single point earth ground. And must be rated to even withstand direct lightning strikes without damage. This other and proven device costs about $1 per protectded appliance. And is unknown to most who recommend protection.

These proven devices come from other manufacturers with superior integrity. Including Siemens, Ditek, General Electric, Polyphaser (an industry benchmark), Syscom, Intermatic, Square D, Leviton, ABB, and Keison. A Cutler-Hammer is sold in Lowes and Home Depot. In every case, the proven solution always has a dedicated wire for the low impedance (ie 'less than 10 foot') connection to single point earth ground. Since protection is always about where hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate.

Unplugging is mostly usefull. Since most surges do damage long bafore any humn even thinks about unplugging. And since at risk appliances such as dishwasher, refrigerator, and air conditioner cannot be unplugged.

[palerider]

The absence of a ground pin on kitchen appliances, for YEARS after they were on power tools,
has always disturbed me. My thought was that somehow, women were not considered
valuable enough to protect from shock.
--And then they started appearing on hair dryers and curling irons, but nothing in the kitchen.
. . . Save the trophy wife, but not the cook?
I always insisted on GFCI outlets in my kitchen, but the codes were not retroactive, to my knowledge.

GFCIs and grounding are different things... the gfci operates by looking for a current difference between the 'hot' and 'neutral' pins on a two wire circuit. and is a really good idea to have whenever you're working around available grounded surfaces... like the sink, or the stove.

kitchen appliances don't have ground pins not because the world doesn't <3 cooks, but because the machines are designed so the outer case can't become electrified.