Last week we had a tree come down on our power line to the house. This caused a surge over the neutral in our home. All the Z-Wave GE switches failed. And all my Cree and GE Link bulbs blew as well. Many of them letting out the magic smoke that they need to work (SMILE). So after 20 new switches being replaced very quickly (since I really missed not having them) I am now back up and running.
I have now added a whole house surge suppressor into my HA mix, along with a secondary protection at the incoming line into the house. So, if you do not have a whole house surge suppressor it might be a good idea to look into something, as when you have a huge surge it can be costly and time consuming to resolve.
Yep in the US. Not sure if a surge suppressor can resolve it, but at least if it should happen again I can say that I tried it (SMILE). From what we can tell the neutral was dropped and somehow 240 came in over the neutral line. Like you said, not certain that a suppressor would be enough to protect from this, but hopefully it would catch it at the main line prior to entry to the house system
I have had a whole house surge suppressor for many years, first in my old home now in my new one. It is a must. I also have all my electronics connected to APC BackUPS 1080NS just so the hubs and wifi stay active. The TVs are just plugged into the UPS surge sockets while the wifi and FIOS boxes into the backup.
Also what some people don’t realize in the USA some older transformers use a Delta Y system which the Delta side gives you what we electricians call a bastard leg. Which when neutral is lost it sends a huge voltage across the lines.