Intermatic has a long history dating back to 1891 when the company manufactured portable fare registers for streetcars. It wasn’t until the 1980′s that they turned to surge protection and quickly became a highly touted industry leader. Today surge protection has gained an ever increasing importance in business and home electronics safety. With technology becoming more and more advanced, smaller microprocessors and nanochips are ever more sensitive to power surges and can easily be destroyed. Intermatic recognizes this fact and focuses their attention on protecting your home from surges caused by external sources. The Intermatic surge protector is designed for whole house protection for a greater capacity to handle surges over standard point-of-use strips.
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Features:
- Type 2 Surge Protection*
- Can withstand a greater capacity of surge energy than standard strip devices.
- Made for 120/240 volt single or split phase panels
- 6 Modes of Surge Protection (L1-N, L2-N, L1-G, L2-G, N-G, L1-L2)
- Green LED indicator light to signal that device is working
- Red LED indicator to signal reduced protection
- Plastic housing (5.65″H x 4.18″W x 3.33″D)
- 5 year product warranty
- UL Listed UL1449, 2nd edition, cULus
- Tested to 65 kAIC per NEC Section 285
- $10,000 Connected Equipment Coverage (Appliances and Electronics) [5 year]
- 4 30-Inch 12-gauge leads
*About Surge Protection Types:
Type 1: These are for industrial complexes with lightning protection systems installed. They protect high powered equipment that depends on a surge free environment and are capable of discharging extreme lightning blast.
Type 2: These devices are capable of diffusing surges from indirect lightning strikes most often conducive to residential environments.
Type 3: These are supplemental devices, or standard point-of-use- surge protectors that are used at your outlets. They are made for one to several appliances at once. While most homes use type 3 surge protection, it is generally considered insufficient as a standalone mode of protection.
Installed at your breaker panel, the Intermatic whole house surge protector is made for 120/240 volt split phase AC panels (indicated by two hot wires and a ground wire – mostly in US homes). It’s a MOV-based unit, meaning it uses metal oxide varistors as the semiconductors that absorb surges. There is an indicator light on the device to alert you that it is working correctly and when it’s not, that light turns off and the alarm light comes on. This is an important feature as without it you would never know your device isn’t working.
If you are comfortable around electricity, you can install the Intermatic surge suppressor yourself. It comes with easy to follow instructions. Otherwise you are advised to hire an electrician for installation.
Another option for whole house protection is to see if your power company offers a device. Most do. They will offer a service to you for a one-time fee with a recurring monthly charge. The recurring service charge is nominal, usually about $5.
The clear advantage of installing your own Intermatic whole house surge protection device is the cost will be lower in the long run. It might also be easier to dispute a faulty device with the manufacturer rather than with your power company should a problem arise.
Installation is simple. It requires two empty circuit breaker slots vertically with either two 15 amp twin breakers or two 20 amp single breakers, one for each power phase. Typical installation time is between one to two hours, depending on your knowledge level.
A Few Installation Tips
1. Key to the best protection is installing the device as close to the breaker panel as possible. The shorter the distance to the breaker the better the performance of your whole house surge protector.
2. The larger the gauge of the wire with the higher number of strands used will also add to performance.
3. The conductors should be short with bends of no more than a 3 inch radius.
The IG1240RC takes prewired sizes at 30″ of 14″ stranded wire. As mentioned already you can use a 15 amp breaker but it is recommended to use at least a 20 amp.
If you need to call Intermatic with installation questions, here’s the number: 800.391.4555.
You can also pick up a flush mounting kit separately. It has 4″ x 4″ footprint and mounting tabs on top and bottom faces and includes the cover plate, two brackets and self tapping screws. Instructions are provided.
For details, consult the manual:
Instruction manual online for the IG1240RC
Link to the Flush Mounting Kit manual
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What is the joule rating for the Intermatic IG1240RC3 Whole Home Type-2 Surge Protection Device? I am looking for one rated at 1900 joules or greater.
Mark, thank you for your question. Your Intermatic model is rated at 1200 joules. In all honesty that is more than sufficient for external surges provided you have secondary protection within your home. Whole house surge protectors are generally rated by their clamping voltage (at least 500 for maximum safety) and max amperage (36,000+) and less for their joules rating. If you are set on finding a device with a higher joules rating then I suggest looking into some Eaton models. A basic Eaton whole house surge protector has a joules rating of 1890.