Frequently Asked Questions

A. Common AC circuit breakers don’t react quickly enough to protect sensitive electronic equipment. Surgeassure™’s Main Zone protector reacts in less than a billionth of a second. Also, it’s important to note that Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) circuit breakers are not surge protectors and therefore do not provide surge protection. They protect against shock hazard.

A. No. Neither the main, interior, nor exterior zone protectors can eliminate blinking clocks. Blinking is caused by momentary sags or outages, which are solved by the use of a UPS unit or buying electronics with built-in battery backups.

A. Built-in surge protectors often aren’t strong enough to handle larger surges and spikes and, like other smaller surge protectors, can wear out without you even knowing about it, leaving you with no protection at all. Built-in protection for one piece of equipment may still leave you without protection for important peripherals such as answering machines, modems, printers, etc. In addition, built-in protectors don’t provide back-up power which lets you perform orderly shut-downs.

A. Although you won’t be able to use the Interior Zone protectors (they require the use of a grounded three-pronged outlet), you can still have the main zone protector installed. Your standard electrical equipment that is “hard-wired” will then be covered under the Main Zone’s connected equipment warranty. Homes with a combination of two and three-pronged outlets may take advantage of the Interior Zone protectors, as long as properly wired and grounded three-pronged outlets are used for all UPS and plug-in protectors. The use of two to three-pronged adapters is expressly disallowed with the Surgeassure™ program.

A. Under normal operation, these devices will operate indefinitely. The devices have been engineered by APT, an “ISO 9001: 2000 Certified” industry-leading manufacturer. A world-class test facility assures maximum design efficiency and assures maximum accuracy, quality, and dependability. Surgeassure™ demonstrates its faith in these products with a 10-year product warranty for the Main Zone protectors. Interior Zone plug-in protectors offer a lifetime product warranty and a 10-year connected equipment warranty. Also, our UPS system comes with a two-year product and connected equipment warranties.

A. Plug the surge protector into a powered wall outlet. Be sure the switch on the surge protector is set “ON” by pushing down on the reset side. If the surge protector has LEDs, be sure they are lighted according to the enclosed instruction manual. If not, check your wall outlet. Connect the equipment into the outlets on the power strip or surge protector. Be sure to plug in your phone/fax or TV/coax if the surge protector has this option.

A. Unplug and reinstall the phone/fax input cable on the surge protector. If that doesn’t work, plug the phone/fax directly into the phone wall jack. If it works in the wall jack, the surge protector has been damaged by a surge or could be failed (phone/fax protection circuits are separate and not related to the indicator lights). If the phone doesn’t work, check your phone in another outlet; you may have a defective phone or you may have a damaged main zone telephone protector.

If other in-home phones are working then the phone is probably damaged. If the other phones work but you have a bad signal, the main zone telephone protector is probably damaged. To verify whether the main zone telephone protector is damaged or not, unplug the telephone cables then connect them with Radio Shack Inline Coupler Cat# 279-434. If the telephone signal is restored, the main zone telephone protector needs to be replaced. If the signal is still bad, contact the telephone company.

A. No. Your surge protector must be directly plugged into a three-pronged grounded outlet. If you use an adapter, the warranty will be void.

A. No. Surge protectors must be plugged directly into a grounded outlet to work properly. Underwriters Laboratories prohibits daisy chaining.

A. Then a transient did not damage the appliance. The units are designed to show evidence of a transient passing through it. If the lights are on, the implication is that there is some other factor responsible for the damage to the appliance.

A. It is rated for 120/240 V AC, split-phase systems. A 20 Amp breaker must be used to connect the Main Protector to the breaker panel.

A. Main Zone protectors are rated for indoor and outdoor applications.

A. Medical and life support equipment.

A. Proper functionality of the suppressors differs by zones.

A. If the telephone or cable portion of the device fails — the telephone line or cable service is interrupted and appears to be “dead” — in many cases, the service can be established by connecting the cable or phone line directly into the wall. Call Surgeassure™ at 800-727-0669 for directions to return your product for replacement.