Power Conditioners - technical decision

[crashguy]

"the evil monster"

I have a Monster HTS 3600. I invested in one after lightening (or a power outage during a summer storm - I'm assuming lightening somewhere on the lines) fried my bigscreen TV. Ever had to get a bigscreen (rear projection) TV fixed?? Its a dollar a minute to get a repair guy out, and $50 as soon as he shows up at the door. I am not so sold on the sonic benefits, I didn't hear anything dramatic. Not saying they don't exist, just saying I didn't notice any, except when my wife turns on the blender, my TV picture does not go staticy (sp?).

Just FYI, the voltage in my house swings about 13V on average. It'll be 120V or so at peak, and as low as 106-107 during high usage periods (winter mostly).

 

[DSMCasey]

How old are these houses with the large voltage swings? My house is almost 3 months old (yes, very new) the neighborhood that it is located in just turned a year old. It is a "brand new development". Should I be considering a line conditioner or are you talking about houses that are 10-50+ years old? Does the age of the home even matter?

-Casey

 

[sjdgpt]

How old are these houses with the large voltage swings? My house is almost 3 months old (yes, very new) the neighborhood that it is located in just turned a year old. It is a "brand new development". Should I be considering a line conditioner or are you talking about houses that are 10-50+ years old? Does the age of the home even matter?

-Casey

Voltage swings, while more common in older neighborhoods, is a fact of life in any location.

A line conditioner is not going to remove those "normal" voltage swings. The line conditioner removes noise.


Yes you should have a line conditioner.

My actual logic is that you should have a surge protector (to protect from those dreaded lightening strikes). Most major manufacturers of surge protectors often include a fairly good (basic) line conditioner at just a small increase in price, so why not buy an all in one unit, and prevent problems before they occur.