Blown up surge suppressor module

This is a picture of a surge module taken from an LEA series type surge suppressor:

LEA MOV module destruction
LEA 600 volt MOV module

Looks like it took a pretty significant power hit, enough to explode several MOVs.  This site is at the end of a long transmission line that stretches across an entire county.  Over the years, the station has made many complaints to the utility company about the quality of their power and the frequency of interruptions encountered at this transmitter site.  Occasionally, something will happen.  Often times it is the figurative shoulder shrug.

That is why we installed the surge suppressor.

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2 thoughts on “Blown up surge suppressor module”

  1. Looks like it did its job and gave up its life for god and country. I’ve seen several MOVs (also known as Transient Voltage Suppressors – TVS) that short out or have a very low resistance after the input voltage exceeds the rating. That usually blows the fuses until you replace the device. I recall fixing one unit that had a 120/240VAC switch and two MOVs, one across each primary winding. One had very low resistance with an AC voltage over about 50V so both got replaced. Cheap insurance as long as the equipment downstream doesn’t blow up in the process.

    Bob M.

  2. Bob, it did do its job, that is true. We also ended up with a few faulted switching supplies, but those at least were not blown up and it was an easy fault reset.

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