electrical
How does one select a surge protector for a typical home?
We get surges and slight drops in line voltage. We are the last pole on a small town electric provider, three miles from town. Surge protectors cost from $180 to thousands.
How do I determine what is good but not cheap and not more than I need?
You have an open or compromised service neutral.
PLEASE call your power company immediately to have them check their connections.
It is also very possible you'll need an electrician to check/repair/replace the terminations in the meter pan.
I have to ask, do you own this house? If not then calling your landlord is your ONLY option.
Near where the service enters the house, you should see a grounding block similar to this.
The coaxial cable from the pole/dish/mast should be connected to one side, and the coaxial cable feeding to the house should be on the other side. The screw terminal should have an insulated copper wire, larger than 14 AWG, and shorter than 20' (6 m) attached. The other end of this wire should be attached to either:
If the service is not grounded at the house, it could be (and likely is) at a different voltage potential than the grounding system in your house.
Best Answer
First off: If your lights dim and brighten, that's due to changes in voltage. To solve this requires a "power conditioner", or solving a serious problem known as a "floating neutral".
To protect against lightning or high voltage spikes, you want a "surge protector". These protect equipment from damage (the spikes can be tens of thousands of volts).
To keep computers or TV's running through brief power outages you want an "uninterruptible power supply" or UPS.
And finally you might want a "backup generator".
It's possible you want all four types of device in different places. Some devices combine more than one function. For example a good offline UPS will offer power conditioning and and surge protection, but will be limited in capacity and not suitable for the entire building.
Power does not "flow through" a whole house surge protector. One unit, costing perhaps $100, protects the entire house.
There's typically only one whole house unit made for your particular brand of main electrical service panel. Thus, choosing a whole house surge protector is easy (see a list of them over at my website http://guides.obviously.com/Whole-House-Surge-Protectors/1482 ).