mackerg4
27th June 2009, 12:48 PM
Hi,
I own a small apartment on Rhodes, Greece. We visited earlier this month and, while we were there, we had a problem with the mains supply that blew up a lot of my kit.
The problem occurred during one night when we were asleep. We woke up next morning to find that the mains voltage was behaving strangely. When we put the kettle on it worked but any lighting went very dim. Turn the kettle off and it went bright again. Then, a visit to the bathroom and the lights burned very bright indeed and the extractor fan was going much faster that normal.
Anyway we called the electricity company who came out and fixed the problem. The mains supply to the property is from suspended cables on poles which run along the road behind the apartment. A guy came along and climbed the pole and replaced some of the conductors joining the feeder cable from our property to the overhead mains supply. The problem went away but left a lot of damage in its wake.
I lost: one air conditioner, the charger to my laptop, the power transformer for the phone, the power transformer for my wifi unit, the power transformer for the ADSL modem, the standby emergency light. The remaining equipment (fridge, an additional aircon etc) were all OK.
I asked around the village and apparently this is quite a common problem. Because it's right next to the sea these connectors corrode and regularly cause this type of problem.
My question is how can I protect my equipment from blowing up if/when it happens again?
I managed to get replacements for some of the transformers. I was advised to buy a voltage stabilizer to protect the computer equipment. I bought the only one I could find in a local shop: http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/51932488/Voltage_Stabilizer_voltage_regulator_SVC.html
and plugged the the laptop charger etc. into it. But I'm not sure whether this unit is going to provide the protection I need from future problems. Also, it's only protecting some of the items in the apartment because of it's physical location. Is this the right sort of device for the job or is it just going to smooth the mains when there isn't a problem on the incoming supply?
Should I go out and buy some surge protectors? If so, can I buy individual units or do they just come in the multi-gang sockets?
Are there differences in quality from one surge protector to the next?
Also, if there is a surge, do these surge protectors 'blow' like a fuse and need replacing?
While I'm at it it would be good to protect against lightning because we do get quite a few electrical storms in the area from time to time.
The supply is 230Vac 50Hz with standard european 'Shucko' plugs and sockets.
Any answers and/or advice much appreciated.
Bob.
I own a small apartment on Rhodes, Greece. We visited earlier this month and, while we were there, we had a problem with the mains supply that blew up a lot of my kit.
The problem occurred during one night when we were asleep. We woke up next morning to find that the mains voltage was behaving strangely. When we put the kettle on it worked but any lighting went very dim. Turn the kettle off and it went bright again. Then, a visit to the bathroom and the lights burned very bright indeed and the extractor fan was going much faster that normal.
Anyway we called the electricity company who came out and fixed the problem. The mains supply to the property is from suspended cables on poles which run along the road behind the apartment. A guy came along and climbed the pole and replaced some of the conductors joining the feeder cable from our property to the overhead mains supply. The problem went away but left a lot of damage in its wake.
I lost: one air conditioner, the charger to my laptop, the power transformer for the phone, the power transformer for my wifi unit, the power transformer for the ADSL modem, the standby emergency light. The remaining equipment (fridge, an additional aircon etc) were all OK.
I asked around the village and apparently this is quite a common problem. Because it's right next to the sea these connectors corrode and regularly cause this type of problem.
My question is how can I protect my equipment from blowing up if/when it happens again?
I managed to get replacements for some of the transformers. I was advised to buy a voltage stabilizer to protect the computer equipment. I bought the only one I could find in a local shop: http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/51932488/Voltage_Stabilizer_voltage_regulator_SVC.html
and plugged the the laptop charger etc. into it. But I'm not sure whether this unit is going to provide the protection I need from future problems. Also, it's only protecting some of the items in the apartment because of it's physical location. Is this the right sort of device for the job or is it just going to smooth the mains when there isn't a problem on the incoming supply?
Should I go out and buy some surge protectors? If so, can I buy individual units or do they just come in the multi-gang sockets?
Are there differences in quality from one surge protector to the next?
Also, if there is a surge, do these surge protectors 'blow' like a fuse and need replacing?
While I'm at it it would be good to protect against lightning because we do get quite a few electrical storms in the area from time to time.
The supply is 230Vac 50Hz with standard european 'Shucko' plugs and sockets.
Any answers and/or advice much appreciated.
Bob.