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Whole-home surge protection is required on a new or replaced service
A whole-home surge protective device is a Type 1 or Type 2 SPD at the service. When we replace the service or the service equipment, current code wants one there — part of the job, not an extra. An existing house without one is not automatically in violation. If the panel is staying, adding one is optional protection, not a hidden code debt.
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What the rule says
The 2025 California Electrical Code / NEC 2023 (230.67) requires a Type 1 or Type 2 SPD on a service supplying a dwelling when that service is new or the service equipment is replaced.
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Why it lives at the service
A service-level SPD sits at the main and protects everything downstream of it at once, instead of one device at a time. It is the whole-house layer.
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What that means for you
On a panel replacement or a 200-amp service upgrade, the SPD comes with the job. If the panel is staying, adding one is a small, sensible piece of work — not a big sell, and not because the house is already illegal.
So the honest question is whether this is part of a service job, or a standalone add.
Whole-home surge protection clamps transients, not lightning
Surge protection is worth having and worth being honest about. It handles a specific problem well and does not pretend to handle others.
What it clamps
Transient surges — the fast voltage spikes from grid switching, utility events, large motors cycling, and nearby lightning activity. It shunts that energy before it reaches your circuits, which is where most surge damage to a house actually comes from.
What it does not do
It is not a lightning rod and it does not stop a direct lightning strike — nothing at the panel does. And it protects the house, not the sensitive electronics plugged into it, which want their own layer.
The device, and getting to full protection
There is more than one type of SPD, and the honest version is that the whole-home unit is one layer of two.
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The whole-home device
A Type 1 or Type 2 SPD installed at the service — the class that includes equipment like the Eaton CHSPT2 and Siemens BoltShield. This is what 230.67 is about, and what protects the whole panel.
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Point-of-use protection
Type 3 SPDs — the plug-in strips and receptacle-level units at a computer, a media center, or an AV rack — do exist and do a real job. They catch what makes it past the panel and guard the gear most sensitive to it.
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Why both
The panel-level device takes the big transients; the point-of-use device guards the electronics a small residual spike can still upset. Together they are the full picture — either one alone is a layer, not the whole thing.
When whole-home surge protection isn’t the right job
An SPD is a small device with a clear job. Four situations look like surge protection and are really something else.
The panel is being replaced anyway
If the panel itself is the reason you are here, the SPD is one line in that job, not the job. That is a panel replacement, and the surge device comes with the service equipment.
The meter-main is being replaced
If the service-entrance combination is the reason, the SPD rides with that job too. That is a meter-main replacement — same amperage, new equipment, and the surge device current code wants when that equipment is replaced.
Something already got fried
If equipment has already failed after a blip, or a circuit is behaving strangely, that is a diagnosis rather than a device to install — breaker and circuit work finds what actually happened.
You are working through a safety list
If an SPD is one item on a broader list of code corrections — grounding, bonding, protection an older house never had — the whole set lives under electrical safety and code corrections.
Not sure this is the right job?
Tell us what you are seeing — what is tripping, what changed, or what you are planning — and we will tell you what the work actually is before anyone drives out.
Surge protection questions
Isn’t whole-home surge protection just an upsell?
On a new or replaced service, no — current code wants a Type 1 or Type 2 SPD there, so it is part of the work. If the panel is staying, it is optional protection, and we say so rather than dressing it as a code emergency. On a panel replacement it comes with the job.
Will it protect my computer or TV?
Partly. The panel-level device stops the large transients before they reach your circuits. Sensitive electronics are best protected by adding a point-of-use (Type 3) device at the equipment itself, so the two work together.
Does it stop lightning?
No — and no device at the panel does. A whole-home SPD clamps the transient surges from grid switching and nearby strikes; it is not a lightning rod and cannot stop a direct hit. What it prevents is the far more common everyday surge damage.
Do I need one if my panel is fine?
No existing house is illegal just for lacking one. If the panel is staying, an SPD is optional protection. If the service equipment is being replaced — a panel replacement or a meter-main replacement — the SPD comes with that job.
How long do these last?
An SPD wears as it absorbs surges, and most carry an indicator that shows when the protection is spent and the unit should be replaced. It is a component that does its job and is renewed, not a permanent fixture.
Is it worth getting a whole house surge protector?
A listed whole-home unit at the panel protects the service from incoming spikes. Point-of-use strips still cover the desk. We size the unit to the panel.
Can you do a whole house surge protector?
Yes. We install a Type 2 surge protector — the listing the panel wants — on the house side of the main and tighten it to spec.
Still not sure it is the right job? Call (279) 972-9272 — available 24 hours.
Serving 19 communities across the Sacramento area
Litel Electric serves homeowners throughout all 19 communities in our service area — from Davis and Woodland to Roseville, Folsom, and Elk Grove.
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Tell us what is happening, or what you are planning. We read the details, tell you what else we need to know, and explain the next step before anything is scheduled.
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You send the problem or the plan, with the address if you have it.
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We reply with what it involves and what has to be seen in person.
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Nothing is scheduled, and nothing is priced, until the equipment has been looked at.
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