On Thursday afternoon, February 27, 1997, a powerful windstorm swept through Western New York.

The storm blew a wide path of destruction. Trees were uprooted. Shingles were torn from rooftops. Cars were bounced around roadways; there were even a few overturned trucks. It was difficult just to walk around.

At 3:15 p.m., I experienced some of the most damaging aspects of the storm firsthand.

First, there were the sounds of several loud "pops," followed by puffs of black smoke coming from a few electrical outlets. The electrical power briefly went out. When it came back on, three circuit breakers tripped.

Suddenly, the pungent smell of burning rubber was very noticeable in my office. And it was coming from the surge protector into which I had plugged my computer, monitor, modem, Zip drive, and external hard drive.

I was worried. The surge protector was ruined, but fortunately, none of my computer hardware was damaged. The surge protector had done its job.

Since I have just been shopping for a new surge protector, I thought it would be a good time to review what to look for when making your own purchases.

What is an Electrical Surge? Most electronic products are designed to operate within a voltage range of 110 to 126 volts. Momentary electrical bursts of 6,000 volts called spikes and longer periods of 3,000 volts called surges can shorten the life of valuable equipment by wearing down the electronic components. In addition to severe equipment damage, surges can cause loss of memory for computers.

Surges and spikes can be caused by lightning or something as simple as an air conditioner switching on or off.

What is a Surge Protector? A voltage surge protector (or suppressor) functions as a buffer to absorb excess voltage and reduce the surge to a safe level before it reaches your electronic equipment.

You get what you pay for. A good surge protector will cost $40 to $50 -- or more. My office surge protector ruined by the windstorm cost about $65.

UL Listing. Look for a UL listing of 1449.

Clamping Level. Surge protectors function at a specific voltage level, commonly called the "clamping" level. It's the level at which the device effectively limits the maximum voltage allowed to enter your system. The lower the voltage rating, the better the protection. The clamping level should be no higher than 330 volts.

Joule Rating. How many "zaps" can your surge protector tolerate before it's impaired? This tolerance level is measured in "joules." The higher the joule rating, the better the level of protection.

Response Time. Damaging surges last only a few microseconds (millionths of a second). It's critical that a surge protector respond as fast as possible. This response time is measured in nanoseconds (billionths of a second) or picoseconds (trillionths of a second).

Faster response time means better protection.

Protection Indicators. Depending on the power and number of "zaps" your surge protector receives, it could lose its ability to provide protection. Glowing lights and audible alarms are useful features because they warn you when your equipment is no longer protected.

EMI/RFI Filtering. Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) and Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) can be caused by radio receivers, motors, fluorescent lights and air conditioners. Look for a surge protector with both EMI and RFI filtering.

L-G / L-N / N-G. Make sure your surge protector has protection for line-to-ground, line-to-neutral, and neutral-to-ground. This protection can also be referred to as hot-to-ground, hot-to-neutral, and neutral-to-ground.

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© 1997 Beato Enterprises Inc. May not be reprinted without permission.