 How is Stedi-Power's approach to producing Surge Suppressors/Arresters different from other manufacturers? |
Stedi-Power's approach to system design, marketing, and support is exceptional because:
Our systems are rated as both suppressors and arresters. This provides the maximum flexibility in installation and assures you that you will not install equipment in violation of any electrical code.
We provide technical support for our dealer/distribution network 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We stan d available to speak with your customers if necessary.
We design our systems for maximum protection with the greatest durability. Regardless of what you are told by others, all design is a compromise. Our systems are designed to survive their entire warranted life. We don't depend upon you "forgetting" you had a warranty or that you'll feel it is "too much trouble" to make a claim.
Any guarantees we make are in simple language. We don't, for example, make exceptions to our warranty for Lightning, which many manufacturers hide in their "acts of God" phrasing.
We don't make outrageous claims. You won't find that things we are telling you are disputed by acknowledged experts in the field, or have a utility engineer disputing what you say with your customers.
We require our dealers to go through a formal course of instruction prior to being authorized to represent, specify, or install our product. This is not a "one-day seminar". Our end-users can feel confident that their distributors are specifying the least equipment possible to do the job at the best price. Just as important, our end-users can feel confident that they have the safest, most robust protection system possible...regardless of price.
Relative to training, we do not teach our installers to place equipment where we can "stack the deck" in favor of our survival at the expense of a customer's equipment. We don't, for example, teach our installers to place our equipment, designed to protect the CUSTOMER'S equipment and a circuit breaker...so the customer's circuit breaker can protect OUR equipment.
We don't make blanket "guarantees". We won't guarantee anything in an installation unless we know we can exceed expectations. Guarantees are only offered when a customer provides information that indicates our performance can exceed expectations.
We only "dictate" to our representatives in reference to our equipment's capabilities and performance. We LISTEN to our representatives in terms of marketing and in defining what assistance we can provide in the effort to sell product.
We consider the reputation of our dealers/distributors and agents to be just as important as our own, and we place an extraordinary value on our own reputation.
| How are Stedi-Power's Surge Suppressors/Arresters physically and technically different from their competition? |
- We design our systems for the lowest impedance possible. This provides greatest performance, performance, savings, and protection. The manufacturing method required to do so is more expensive, and less suited to mass-production...but we refuse to compromise in this area.
- We design our systems to have some of the lowest clamping voltages on the market. The result is that we "see" much more activity than our competition. As a result, we have to build in extra "robustness" to survive at least as long as our competition. We survive far longer than our competition.
- Our suppressors' design allows them to react between 1 to 10 times faster than our competition. This, combined with our lower clamping voltage, all ows us to have a much greater effect related to "follow- on" effects. For example, because we can stop the first impulse of an oscillatory transient, and we do this at an extremely low level, any follow-on oscillations are, for practical purposes, non-existent.
- Our equipment has, as far as we know, the fastest "recovery" time on the market. This allows our equipment to do its' job, recover, and be prepared for the next event faster than many of our competitors can even react to the first event.
- Our equipment is designed to "self-sacrifice" itself to protect yours...and we replace our equipment, within the warranty period when it does so.
| Why should I choose Stedi-Power? There are cheaper devices available. |
Besides the reasons related to why we are "different" as outlined above, it's because we are the most cost-effective and provide the greatest return to the customer.
Surge suppression has been identified as the most cost effective means of improving power quality. More power problems are corrected through effective surge suppression than all other methods combined.
The Stedi-Power System is very cost-effective even when compared to our lower-cost competitors. We strongly recommend you consider "life-cycle-cost" of the systems you are comparing. The best definition of "life-cycle-cost" is basically how long the equipment will cost you over its' effective life. Even if the Stedi-Power system is three times as expensive as a competitive device (and it is not) our warranty is, on average, three times as long.
The result is that even with three times the cost, at three times the life we cost "the same"....except that now you are not incurring the expense of reinstalling new equipment two additional times...and our warranty covers conditions that many other manufacturers exclude such as "acts of God" like Lightning.
| What is the significance of the 2002 Electrical Code in reference to Surge Suppressors and Arresters? |
These changes are extremely important. Changes were made to Article 280 (Surge Suppressors) and Article 285 (Surge Arrestors) that have a dramatic impact on installers and specifiers of surge protective devices. These changes were effective in 2001. Anyone who tells you that the changes to the National Electrical code are not relevant because some other organization says differently is, to put it simply, misleading you. For a detailed explanation, including references to the specific documents, please go here. We will try to summarize this information simply in this answer:
- The "code" (US National Electrical Code) now states that a suppressor arrestor be a "listed device". This means that the equipment must be listed by UL (Underwriters Laboratories) as a surge suppressor or arrester. This places limits on where the different devices can be installed.
The important thing to u nderstand is the word "LISTED" on the device. In UL's own words, "A UL Listing Mark on a product is always composed of four elements: the "UL" in a circle Mark, the word "LISTED" in capital letters, an alpha-numeric control number, and the product name, (e.g., "toaster" and "portable lamp"). Sometimes the UL file number is used as company identification."
A few unscrupulous manufacturers take advantage of the typical consumer's lack of knowledge, and confuse the issue by putting marks that look "official" on their product. - An installer must now assure that the device he is installing has a greater rating in terms of Maximum Continuous Operating Voltage (MCOV) than the rating of the electrical system on which he is installing it. The only practical way an installer (or a specifier, or a dealer) can know this is if the MCOV is prominently displayed on the unit label. The MCOV is not a rating that is simply stated by a manufacturer...it needs to be "earned". If a manufacturer adds this information after-the-fact it is not compliant. At best, such an act is a display of incompetence, at worst, it may be an attempt to deceive.
- An Installer must now assure that the device he is installing has a greater rating in terms of "fault current rating" (sometimes called "short circuit current rating and expressed as "Amps Interrupting Current", or "AIC") than the equipment he is installing the device on.
