Electric Panel Surge protection

I got a whole house surge protector as part of a new electric panel. It had a clear warning that it will not protect from lightning strikes.  So electric panel surge protectors may not protect from lightning strikes.  

Installed a new air conditioning system and they have dedicated surge protectors on both the air handler and the outside condenser.

Also have a surge protector as part of a power conditioner used with my audio stuff. Power isolator from transparent Company, and curiously it says it's a hydraulic mechanism for the surge protector.  Fascinating.

If you’re going away for a couple weeks unplug your audio gear. 

Had a large oak tree hit by lightning a Long time ago, it never happened again. 

It had a clear warning that it will not protect from lightning strikes.  So electric panel surge protectors may not protect from lightning strikes.  

No surge protector will protect against all electrical events.  It’s like wearing a bicycle helmet.  You don’t wear it to survive being run over by a truck.  You wear them because 90% of your accidents are going to be low speed and potentially brain injuring. 

"BTW,  the patents on series mode protection expired a while ago and Furman among others now incorporates them into their designs.  Looking at the only 3rd party tests I know of, from Wired, the latest Furman and Tripp Lite models outperform Brickwall and ZeroSurge and also add nice additional features."

@erik_squires, Do you have a link for the Wired tests?

@emergingsoul "I got a whole house surge protector as part of a new electric panel. It had a clear warning that it will not protect from lightning strikes.  So electric panel surge protectors may not protect from lightning strikes."

That means against a direct lightning strike, however they do protect against lightning strike induced surges from nearby hits.