Originally Posted by crafter005
I always plug laptop and sewing machines into good serge protectors and unplug when done.
A protector adjacent to a sewing machine can even contribute to electronics damage. Read what that manufacturer claims. Recommended was a protector that actually does protection and costs tens or 100 times less money per appliance.
> Either a 'whole house' protector makes the short connection to single point earth ground. Or
> spend tens or 100 times more money on plug-in protectors that do not even claim to do protection.
> No plug-in protector will avert the hunt if you let a surge inside the building. A properly earthed
> 'whole house' protector means no appliance damage.
Means no appliance damage. If a sewing machine needs protection, then so does the dishwasher, furnace, dimmer switches, digital clocks, and every radio. What most needs protection if a surge occurs? Smoke detectors. Only solution that protects everything is also the only protector that protects a sewing machine from any surge. Including when a stray car hits a telephone pole.
That power strip protector is a profit center. Obscenely profitable. Does not claim to protect any machine. Read its specs. They can lie in sales brochures and on the box. That is legal. But they cannot lie in one place - numeric specifications where no protection is claimed.
If a 'whole house' protector is not earthed, then your only protection is what comes inside every appliance. That protection is significant - more than what a power strip does. But your concern is something that can overwhelm that internal protection. An event that occurs maybe once every seven years. That means an earthed 'whole house' protector. Cost: $1 per protected appliance. So that the machine - and everything else - is protected when using it.