Advise needed for best PC practices

NoddyPirate

Grand Master
I was advised it would be better to add your PC to the insurance cover if your building or house comes with good earthing and protection.
That's awful advice I'm afraid. A surge protector wouldn't work at all if your house didn't have good earthing and protection in the first place. Surge protection is for sensitive devices that would suffer under surges that your house will allow through during it's nornmal operation.

I wouldn't be misled by the odd bad review of some device when you won't actually know how it was used. People do crazy things with extension leads and power strips!! Your PCS warranty may be void if don't use a surge protector - I would much rather be able to use PCS for some repair than have to liaise with my Home Insurance provider and pay their excess at the same time.

Surely the best option would be - find a good relaible surge protector AND put your PC on your Home Insurance? That way you have the best of both worlds......
 

purplewakanda

Gold Level Poster
That's awful advice I'm afraid. A surge protector wouldn't work at all if your house didn't have good earthing and protection in the first place. Surge protection is for sensitive devices that would suffer under surges that your house will allow through during it's nornmal operation.

I wouldn't be misled by the odd bad review of some device when you won't actually know how it was used. People do crazy things with extension leads and power strips!! Your PCS warranty may be void if don't use a surge protector - I would much rather be able to use PCS for some repair than have to liaise with my Home Insurance provider and pay their excess at the same time.

Surely the best option would be - find a good relaible surge protector AND put your PC on your Home Insurance? That way you have the best of both worlds......
Do you have any recommendations for good surge protectors?
 

NoddyPirate

Grand Master
Do you have any recommendations for good surge protectors?
This is the one I use - only mine is white.

Masterplug Surge Protector

As I hoped, I can't tell you what it's like during surges as I haven't had one in decades! :D These things are just like insurance in that you buy them in case you need them but hope you never will.

Just remember that every product out there on planet earth will have the odd failure - you will be able to find an experience someone has had that that is not what was expected. Use a reliable and well-known brand and a product that shows the vast majority of users happy with it - don't be put off by a small number of reported issues.
 

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Interesting numbers, I've not seen anyone do that level of measuring before. That's really useful. :)

As well as the relatively low cost of the extra electricity, you need to factor in the shock components receive when the power first comes on. They're designed to handle it of course but IMO there is a (probably unmeasurable) gain in not subjecting the electronics to repeated switch on day after day. That's one reason I always leave mine on 24 x 7.
When i worked at the university, I used to work alongside are energy manager, and he had to do a load of calculations and tests at one point when we were looking at installing a new gaming lab that was going to have about 20 top of the range Alienware rigs in it for game production & testing, we needed to know how much heat they kicked out and how much power they would use to make sure there was enough capacity on the electrics and aircon sside of things
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
I looked around for surge protectors even the reputed brands on Amazon seem to cause a short circuit and/ blow up. I was advised it would be better to add your PC to the insurance cover if your building or house comes with good earthing and protection.
This is not a good idea, a surge protector is a necessity.
 

NoddyPirate

Grand Master
It's fine for me. Perhaps they've heard about you.....? :unsure:
Almost certainly the case! My wife has been giving me that same message recently also.....

It seems to be location based access denial. I don't have a VPN here so it obviously doesn't like my providers IP address for some reason. Probably the usual EU data protection issue with US sites. Never mind!
 

ColEyt

Gold Level Poster
I've had one of these for over 12 years, obviously the model has been updated slightly since I bought mine, (which was more of a light grey and has no usb sockets).

Its checked by an electrical engineer every two years, and all I can say is that I've never had an issue.

 

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
I've got this one, really handy as has USB charging ports as well

 

Citrus_9

Expert

Which should I go for?
Both are ONLY 650 Joules energy rating. For a PC recommended from 1000 to 2000 Joules as per @ubuysa kindly suggested links.


I'm using this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0814BYL7D/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s03?ie=UTF8&th=1
 

purplewakanda

Gold Level Poster
Both are ONLY 650 Joules energy rating. For a PC recommended from 1000 to 2000 Joules as per @ubuysa kindly suggested links.


I'm using this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0814BYL7D/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s03?ie=UTF8&th=1
I had a chat with Belkin support and they recommended this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00OE45MVK/ref=ewc_pr_img_1?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1

I looked at some of recommended and they cannot be shipped to me.
 

purplewakanda

Gold Level Poster
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Citrus_9

Expert

This is the Belkin link. I'll check with them about the amps.
Most likely it's going to be 10A. It's just a normal standard. No way it could be 13A when it's only 900 Joules. It actually looks a bit overpriced to me, I think because of the brand.
 
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