I do.
http://www.newser.com/story/237531/town-wide-power-surge-fries-gadgets-bulbs-even-siding.html
http://www.homedepot.com/b/Electrical-Power-Distribution-Whole-House-Surge-Protectors/N-5yc1vZbm05
What is the cost to install?
I recommend the Square D brand. IMO, they are the best-built residential & commercial electrical device mfr. It's what we've used for 40 years now.
>cost
I'd expect 1-2 hours for the stand-alone device. 45 minutes for the circuit breaker type. Add service call fee du jour.
So $125-ish for the circuit breaker type.
NOTE: not all panelboards will use the CB type. Tell the electrician the brand you have.
If you have a Square D panel
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Square-D-QO-Surgebreaker-Surge-Protective-Device-Takes-2-Load-Center-Spaces-QO2175SB/100202111
Actually, adding a circuit breaker to a panel is not particularly hard. The hardest part is resetting all your clocks ;-)
Becuase of my location, a licensed electrician will charge $400 min and last time (the only time?) I did this, it took about 15 mins. The electrician probably takes 3 minutes, but not really knowing what I'm doing, I need to take extra precautions against dying. As one of my climber friends said many years ago when being chided for backing off on a route: "I got this nasty habit called living!"
Just a note that SqD makes 2 lines of panels and the breakers do not interchange. One is "QO" and the other is "Homeline." The Homeline whole house CB-protector came on the market first.
Related: The Homeline brand also has a nifty, cheap-ish mechanical interlock for connecting a generator to the panelboard via 'back-feeding." I'm not sure if it made it to the QO model yet. Works! I have that, too. (2 of both of the above as my service is a 400amp dual-panel installation).
>DIY
Yes, but I knew Mackin wouldn't try it, hhh.
I noticed that product is called a Secondary Surge Suppressor and that made me wonder what the primary is.
Doing some research, that's an old name. The new nomenclature distinguishes between Types 1, 2 and 3.
Type 1: this goes on the line side of your meter. This is the only kind that is meant to protect against external surges like lightning or the town-wide surge RC is talking about. This is a complicated install, because your power company has to shut down your power. The best page I found was a Utah-based guy who said that installing one of these requires a special permit and *two* service calls from the power company - one to shut down your service pre-install and one to turn it back on. So this is probably north of $1000.
Type 2: This is the kind that goes in the breaker box. These are meant to protect against internal surges, like when you turn on a large appliance and then turn it off and the power surges back through the system. Apparently these can also protect against lightning, but you need one with high enough rating. The one I posted above is 22.5kA and the IEEE recommends 20kA to 70Ka in most areas, an extra 20kA in high-lightning areas. A 100kA lightning strike to the pole outside your house would result in roughly 10kA per wire max surge.
Type 3: this is the "point of use" type that you plug into the wall.
- 80% of surges are generated internally. It's rare that one big surge takes out an appliance, but many small surges over time shorten the lifespan of appliances, LED bulbs, etc. Which might explain why I'm always replacing circuit boards in appliances, something discussed here by others as well.
- Voltage Protection Rating also matters -lower is better and 300V is good, but the Square D I linked above is 700V/1500V - http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pdfImages/87/87574dfd-fe03-4337-9d06-b475be2e3c97.pdf
If you have a lot of lightning and above-ground lines, something like this would be better - https://www.amazon.com/Square-Schneider-Electric-SDSB1175C-SurgeBreaker/dp/B002FYIHAO
Good overviews
https://www.stevejenkins.com/blog/2014/10/whats-the-best-whole-house-surge-protection/
http://techomebuilder.com/emagazine-articles-1/home-automation/5-things-to-know-about-whole-house-surge-protection (annoying slideshow, but some good info)
Schneider catalog of SPDs
http://www.schneider-electric.us/en/product-subcategory/54825-residential/?filter=business-4-low-voltage-products-and-systems&parent-category-id=54800
> Secondary
In utility-speak, the 'secondary" is the line to your meter. The 'primary' runs between their transformers.