|  | 8.10 | Network Power Supply Issues: Power Line Problems
| 8.10.5 | Surge and spike damage

A spike or a surge can wreak havoc on any type of sensitive electronic equipment, including networking devices. Consequences of electrical surges and spikes can be severe. Possibilities include the following:

- lockups
- loss of memory
- problems in retrieving data
- altered data
- garbling

Protection products can save your data equipment from damage caused by direct contact with lightning, power lines, or electrostatic discharge. Primary protection devices are designed to protect people and buildings and are usually installed on the regulated side of a network by the local exchange carrier. Primary protection activates when lightning strikes, power lines cross, or when other situations that create high voltage occur, triggering the device to divert the surge energy to ground. However, primary protection devices do not respond fast enough and their clamping levels are not exact enough to protect today’s sensitive electronic equipment. Secondary protection installed behind primary protection will stop any damaging surges or currents that get past your primary protection.

1. To protect the system equipment from surges introduced between the building entrance and the system equipment, install the inline surge protector between those two points and as close as possible to the equipment being protected.
2. To protect the system equipment from surges introduced between the system equipment and the work area, install the inline surge protector between those two points and as close as possible to the equipment being protected.
3. To protect the work area equipment that is connected to the Local Exchange Carrier (LEC), Campus Backbone Cabling or System Equipment. If the work area equipment operates over more than one-pair, install the inline surge protector as close as possible to the equipment being protected.