Good idea. Any special type of surge protector or one like for a home computer?
Why would a surge cause damage? Lightning strikes AC electric wires down the street. That is a direct lightning strike to all household appliances. But to have damage, the surge current must first have both an incoming path and an outgoing path to earth. If you let a surge into the building, then energy will hunt for earth destructively via appliances.
Two weeks ago, it may be found earthing through the remote controller box. Some years from now, your furnace. Or clock radios. Or the one item that most needs protection during every surge – smoke detectors. Nothing located inside a house and near appliances will stop that hunt. Anything that tried to stop it means voltage increases as necessary to blow through - to obtain earth destructively.
Protection is always about where energy dissipates. Either that energy dissipates harmlessly outside the building. And nobody knows a surge existed because you earthed a 'whole house' protector. Even the protector is unharmed. OR that energy is inside destructively hunting for earth - regardless of how many plug-in protectors are installed.
Nothing stops that energy. Either an effective protector connects 'less than 10 feet' to single point earth ground. That is one 'whole house' protector. Or protection in some appliance is sufficient to protect itself. Or that protection is overwhelmed by destructive energy. Those are your choices.
Posted was a Leviton 'whole house' solution. Responsible companies that provide such solutions include General Electric, Intermatic, Siemens, and Square D. A Cutler-Hammer solution sells in Lowes and Home Depot for less than $50.
But again, no protector is protection. A protector is only as effective as single point earth ground. No earth ground (ie every plug-in protector) means no effective protection. How to make the 'whole house' protector even more effective? Upgrade earthing to exceed post 1990 National Electrical code. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground. And your only solution to protecting garage door openers from destructive surges - including direct lightning strikes.
