How reliable is your mains power supply?

[KennyR]

Well, how reliable is it where you are? I just wondered how good the mains (or "utility") power supplies around the world are. How often do you get surges/drops/outages, and how long do they last? Anyone ever lost hardware to a serious surge spike? Are thunderstorms a time for you to turn off all your stuff?

I'd also love to know what kind of protection against power problems you all have as well. Do you have:

· expensive surge protectors/supressors like this;

· the lower grade power-strip surge protectors/supressors like this;

· a UPS (such as this);

· no surge protection at all?

[KennyR]

Thanks for your interesting replies, people.

Here, about 30km from Glasgow, power cuts are very rare, spikes are almost unheard of. Maybe we could get a cut that lasts about about an hour every year, and little cutouts less than a second every few months (especially during thunderstorms). The washing machine downstairs also likes to blow the MCBs and cut off power occassionally, bah. The mains voltage stays at around 237-248 V.

I have a UPS. So far its only saved my computers from crashing on the little drops about 4 times in 2 years, but I'm happy with it. Didn't really need it, but its a sort of geek thing. ;-) Before that I had one of the dedicated surge protectors, which now protects my family's PC against non-existent surges. Oh well... ;-)

[KennyR]

Actually, I just noticed there is a controversy raging over the use of surge protectors. Some people say they're no use, because in half-decent electric systems there should be at least 4 different failsafes between you and the surge. Other people say that the low grade ones aren't good enough to cut out a surge before it breaks your stuff. Might be interesting (but expensive) project to investigate.

Then again, I heard a story about a town in Scotland where everyone in one street had all of their stuff frazzled by a freak unexplained surge.

Well, whatever - I still feel safe with a UPS and high grade one protecting my computer stuff, and a lower grade one protecting my TV and DVD player. And it means I don't have to worry during storms. :-)

[KennyR]

Tomas wrote:

One problem here in norway though, there is no grounded contacts other than in bathroom, washingroom, kitchen and such So i have to run all my pc equipment without grounding... dunno how safe that is though... Any ideas?

That's bad. In the UK we have a three-pin plug that's always earthed. I think the rest of the planet should use this plug. It's much, much better than the two-pin one everyone else seems to use. And it doesn't come out of the wall if you trip over the wire either! ;-)