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A retired electrician changed how I handle surge protectors
I had a job last Thursday where a client's new PC kept tripping the breaker. I was about to blame the power supply, but the old electrician who was there for the panel looked over and said 'your equipment is fine, it's the shared neutral causing the spike.' He walked me through how induction from other circuits can mess with sensitive gear. I always assumed surges came from outside, not from inside the building. Has anyone else found that internal wiring issues are more common than actual lightning strikes in residential work?
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kai5642mo ago
it's the shared neutral causing the spike" sounds like something I'd need a translator for honestly. I've done maybe a hundred surge callouts and only seen one actual lightning hit, everything else was some weird wiring gremlin inside the walls. My own PC used to reboot every time the fridge kicked on until I figured out the previous owner had tied the whole kitchen into one circuit. I spent two weeks blaming my power supply and replacing parts before I looked at the panel and felt real dumb. Anyway, that retired guy saved you from a fun afternoon of swapping out a perfectly good PSU, so hope you bought him a coffee.
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