01 — Why Castles
Protection for Houses With Older Wiring
A Type 2 Device at the Panel
On its own breaker, with short leads run to the main lugs.
Equipment Protectors Where They Help
Hardwired units at the heat pump, the range, or a well pump, when you want them.
03 — Layers
Layers of Surge Protection in a Portsmouth Home
04 — Plug-In
Plug-In Protectors That Still Earn Their Place
A power strip and a surge protector can look identical. UL Solutions puts it plainly: a power strip is just an extension cord with multiple outlets, while a surge protector has an internal element that clamps the surge. UL says to make sure the product is UL certified, and to compare the suppressed voltage rating, which ranges from 330 to 4,000 volts, with a lower rating giving better protection.
UL also advises replacing any strip whose cord or body is damaged, even though strips do not expire on a schedule. The Consumer Product Safety Commission posts recalls of surge protectors and power strips, so an older unit’s brand and model are worth checking on its site before it goes back behind the television.
The Electrical Safety Foundation describes a point-of-use protector as additional protection for use with a Type 1 or Type 2 device. In a Portsmouth house with many two-prong outlets, plug-in units belong only on outlets confirmed to be grounded, and UL notes that a home full of strips usually does not have enough outlets. Each layer covers something the other layers cannot reach on their own.
05 — Water Pipe Ground
When the Water Pipe Was the Ground
In many older houses, the grounding electrode conductor runs from the panel to the metal water line. Under Virginia’s 2021 residential code, a metal underground water pipe counts as a grounding electrode only when it is in direct contact with the earth for 10 feet or more and is electrically continuous back to where the grounding conductor connects.
If the underground line, or part of it, has been replaced with plastic over the years, the pipe may no longer qualify as an electrode. The clamp can still be on the pipe and look fine at the panel while the path a surge device relies on no longer reaches the earth. The residential code also requires a metal water pipe electrode to be supplemented by an additional electrode, such as a ground rod.
Location matters too. Virginia’s code says interior metal water piping more than 5 feet from where it enters the building cannot be used to interconnect grounding electrodes, so a clamp on a pipe in a back closet does not do that job.
If you know the water line was repiped at some point, please mention it when you book. Before installing a surge device, we trace where the grounding conductor lands, whether the pipe is metal where it enters, and whether a second electrode is in place. Any corrections are listed separately on the estimate.
06 — CSST
Yellow Gas Tubing and the Bonding Question
Some Portsmouth homes have corrugated stainless steel tubing, or CSST, a flexible gas line often sheathed in a yellow jacket. Virginia’s home inspection regulation requires an inspector who sees any shade of yellow CSST in a home built before the 2006 Virginia Construction Code took effect, on May 1, 2008, to note it in the report.
The report must include a statement to the effect that manufacturers believe the product is safer when properly bonded and grounded, as their installation instructions require, and that proper bonding and grounding should be determined by a contractor licensed to perform the work in Virginia. The model residential code calls for CSST without an arc-resistant jacket to be electrically continuous and bonded to the electrical service grounding electrode system.
That bond ties into the same grounding system a panel surge device depends on. If your inspection report mentions yellow CSST, tell us when you book and have that page of the report handy, and we can look at whether a bonding connection to the grounding system is present during the visit. Work on the gas piping itself stays with a gas contractor.
07 — Process
What We Check Before Adding Protection
The service and panel
Age, condition, open spaces, and whether the panel is due for replacement.
Grounding electrode connection
Where the house is grounded and whether that connection is sound.
Bonding at the panel
That the neutral and grounding connections are made correctly.
Two-prong and ungrounded circuits
Which rooms have outlets where plug-in protectors lose much of their value.
Written estimate
The device, any grounding corrections, and optional equipment protection are listed separately.
08 — Proof
The Owner on the Job
One reviewer noted the owner came out to see the job himself.
From our five-star Google reviews
Google 5.0 Rated by Hampton Roads Customers
Castles Electrical maintains a 5.0 rating on Google. The reviews below load as a live widget, so this page shows current feedback from real Castles Electrical customers.
09 — FAQS
