On 2018-01-28 Kevin McGregor wrote:
Hey, what's the prevailing opinion on power bars with built-in surge suppressors? How long do they last? Should they be replaced every, say, 5 years?
Never heard of a lifespan for those things. I'm an APC partner I'm sure that they would have been blasting that in all their emails and "APC Currents" mag, etc, all the time if that had been the case. Also, would make their lifetime warranties on their good surge bars a bit silly.
The only thing I've ever heard is replace them after a lightning strike nearby or nasty surge.
Then again, you made me think about it and perhaps the passives in these things could wear out with old age?? I'm pretty sure there's no electrolytic caps in them ;-) and there's not much heat generation, so all the other passives that could be in there should last like 30+ years like 80's computers have.