Check for a whole-home surge protector
One-time · any month works
Why it matters
Everything in a modern house has a circuit board in it now — the furnace, the water heater if it's fancy, every appliance with a display. Boards die from voltage spikes, and spikes don't need a lightning strike: utility grid switching does it quietly, year-round.
A whole-home surge protector (a Type 2 SPD mounted at the panel) clamps those spikes before they reach branch circuits. Power strips protect one power cord; the panel unit protects the house.
What skipping it costs
$0–$8,000
One nearby lightning strike or utility switching event can take out the control boards in your furnace, heat pump, fridge, and washer in the same second — $500 to $2,000 per board, none of it repairable at the DIY level. The device that absorbs that hit costs less than one board.
Two ways to get it done
Do it yourself
You'll need: Phone flashlight.
Your job is a two-minute identification, not an installation:
- Open the panel door (just the door — not the inner cover) and look for a small box mounted beside or inside the panel with a short pair of wires to a breaker. Common labels: "SPD," "surge protective device," or a brand name with an indicator light.
- Green light (or whatever the label says "protected" looks like): you're done. Note it in your house details and move on.
- Indicator dark or red: the device already took a hit for you and is spent. Replacement is the same job as a new install.
- Nothing there at all: add "surge protector install" to your next electrician visit — it pairs cheaply with any other panel work.
There is no step five. Installing one means working in a live panel, which is exactly the job licenses exist for.
Hire it out
$250–$475National fair range — local labor moves this number.
Installed, this runs $250–$475 — a $100–$200 device plus roughly an hour of licensed labor. If an electrician is already at your panel for anything else, the add-on price should drop noticeably.
Keep the layering straight and you'll never get upsold: the panel unit takes the big hits; cheap point-of-use strips at the TV and computer catch the leftovers. Anyone selling you a "premium protection package" beyond those two layers is decorating the invoice.
Ask the tech
- Is this a Type 2 SPD rated for my panel, and what's its surge current rating (kA)?
- Does it have an indicator light so I'll know when it's sacrificed itself?
- Is the breaker placement as close to the main as practical? (Short leads matter.)
Red flags you're being upsold
- Quotes over $800 for a standard install — it's a $100–$200 device and about an hour at the panel.
- Tiered 'surge protection packages' with gold/platinum levels. One properly sized Type 2 SPD is the product.
- Claims that a whole-home unit makes point-of-use strips useless — they're layers, not substitutes.
Second opinion time: Any bundled 'panel refresh + surge' quote over $1,500 when you only asked about surge protection.
The call
DIY the check — it's a flashlight and two minutes at the panel. The install itself is licensed-electrician work, and it's genuinely worth hiring.