Best Surge Protector for Air Conditioners: Top 7 of 2024 Reviewed

Thomas Hawkins September 4, 2020

Last updated on February 28th, 2024.

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EATON CHSPT2ULTRA Ultimate Surge Protection 3rd...

There’s no point spending over $1000 on an expensive air conditioner just to have it explode after your first electrical surge.

A quality surge protector is an easy way to protect your air conditioner.

A good air conditioner surge protector will have a high joule rating, a long warranty, and meet or exceed all relevant safety ratings & certifications.

On the other hand, a faulty air conditioner surge protector is an expensive (& dangerous) waste of money. It doesn’t make much sense to buy a surge protector that doesn’t actually protect your air conditioner.

To help you separate the good from the bad – we review the Best Surge Protector for an Air Conditioner in 2024. We look at 220V surge protectors, as well as surge protectors in other voltage ranges.

Buy with the confidence that you’re buying one of the top air conditioner surge protectors on the market.

Let’s dive into the reviews.

Top 7 Best Surge Protectors for Air Conditioners

Preview	Product	Key Features
Best Overall	EATON CHSPT2ULTRA Ultimate Surge Protection 3rd Edition, 2.38" Length, 5.25" Width 7.5" Height	Universally connects to any manufacturer’s load center (breaker box) Easy to use High quality product	CHECK PRICE
Premium Choice	Leviton 51120-1 120/240 Volt Panel Protector, 4-Mode Protection, Light Commercial/Residential...	120/240V Single Phase Panel Mount Surge Protective Device, 4-Mode Protection, 50kA Max Surge Current Rating, NEMA 1 Enclosure, UL 1449 4th Edition Type 2 Type 2 Single Phase Surge Panel with 4-Mode Protection Real-time diagnostic visual indicator shows power and suppression status for each protected phase	CHECK PRICE
Excellent Value	NIPPON Surge Protector 220V 3600W for Air Conditioners & Freezers, White, PROTECT-AC220	WORKING VOLTAGE 220V 1 Pieces FREE SHIPPING	CHECK PRICE
	Tripp Lite IBAR2-6D Isobar 2 Outlet Surge Protector Power Strip, 6ft Cord, Right-Angle Plug,...	Protect any electronic device from power surges & spikes: Surge protector with two outlets protects your personal computer, laptop, printer, scanner, router, phone, fax, modem, television, lamp or any other home/office electronics from dangerous power surges, spikes & line noise Premium surge protection with metal housing: This surge suppressor provides 2 widely spaced nema 5 15r outlets which are arranged in 4 exclusive isolated filter banks to limit noise interaction among connected equipment; The extra-long 12 foot ac power cord acts like an extension cord to give you the flexibility to reach distant outlets, while its right angle nema 5 15p flat plug allows furniture and equipment to be moved flush against the wall to save space Safety first high joule rating conforms to UL 1449 safety standards: An Integrated 12 Ampere circuit breaker protects all outlets and shuts down connected equipment in the event of an overload; 1410 joules mean maximum protection for your equipment; Conforms to current UL 1449 3rd edition safety standards	CHECK PRICE
	Pipeman's Installation Solution AC 220v Surge Brownout Voltage Protector 3600 Watts Air...		CHECK PRICE
	Electronic Surge Protector for Mini Split Air Conditioners 120V	Protection against Over voltage and Under voltage. Protection against blackouts and short cycling (short power interruptions). Intelligent timer adjustable by the user, specially designed to hide wiring.	CHECK PRICE
	Intermatic AG3000 120/240 VAC Universal HVAC Surge Protective Device - Comprehensive Surge...	COMPREHENSIVE SURGE PROTECTION - Safeguard your HVAC equipment and home appliances with the Intermatic AG3000 Surge Protective Device, offering three modes of protection (L-G, L-L, L-N) to shield against power surges and prevent potential damage. ADVANCED TPMOV TECHNOLOGY - Experience peace of mind with our state-of-the-art Thermally Protected Metal Oxide Varistor technology, eliminating the hazardous failure modes associated with standard MOV technology and providing reliable surge protection for your devices. BUILT TO LAST - The Type 4X watertight and UV resistant plastic enclosure of the AG3000 ensures durability and longevity, making it suitable for both indoor and outdoor installations. Protect your equipment against environmental elements and enjoy long-lasting surge protection.	CHECK PRICE

What to Try to find in an Air Conditioner Surge Protector

There are a couple of things to watch on when searching for the best surge protector for your air conditioner. We’ve summed up these crucial functions listed below:

Joule Rating

A joule rating shows the energy capacity a surge protector can handle before it fails. Think of it as a shield’s strength against electrical surges. The right joule rating for you depends on the device’s value and sensitivity. For an air conditioner, which is a significant investment in your comfort and safety, aiming for a rating between 1000 to 2000 joules offers a solid balance of protection.

Here are some rough joule rating guidelines:

A unit with up to 1000 joules of surge protection suffices for small electronic devices.
A surge protector with 1000 to 2000 joules will offer enough protection for office equipment and power tools.
Consider the greatest joule rating (2000+) for expensive gaming consoles, home theater systems, and any computer system that keeps important information. Anything that is extremely pricey or irreplaceable.

So for your air conditioner surge protector, try to find a joule rating in between 1000 to 2000 joules.

Type of Air Conditioner Surge Protector

Surge protection devices are classified according to their standard. These are known as Types – from Type 1 to Type 3 Air Conditioner Surge Protectors:

Type 1 Air Conditioner Surge Protector – SPD (Surge Protection Device) which can discharge partial lightning current with a typical waveform 10/350 μs.
Type 2 Air Conditioner Surge Protector – SPD which can prevent the spread of overvoltages in the electrical installations and protects equipment connected to it. It usually employs MOV (metal oxide varistor) technology and is characterized by an 8/20 μs current wave.
Type 3 Air Conditioner Surge Protector – These SPDs have a low discharge capacity. They must therefore only be installed as a supplement to Type 2 SPD and in the vicinity of sensitive loads. Type 3 SPDs are characterized by a combination of voltage waves and current waves.

EMI/RFI Noise Filtering

EMI = Electromagnetic Interference, while RFI = Radio Frequency Interference. Although these terms are utilized interchangeably, they’re technically not the very same thing. For the functions of air conditioner surge protection though, we can treat them alike.

Lots of filters– e.g. low pass filters, high pass filters, or band pass filters– just enable specific types of frequencies through, implying a set series of EMI/RFI emissions will be transferred to the gadget being secured.

This is since particular EMI/RFI emissions will not interfere with the efficiency frequencies of various electric and electronic devices.

So the objective of EMI/RFI is noise filtering is to remove electromagnetic and radio frequency disturbance that will interfere with the air conditioner surge protection.

So search for 220V air conditioner surge protectors that have EMI/RFI emissions.

Diagnostic LEDs

It would be best if you had a way to validate that your 220V air conditioner surge protector is working– which’s what diagnostic LEDs are for.

Search for air conditioner surge protection that includes diagnostic LED lights that verify power, protection and line fault status at a look.

Safety Rating

There are a lot of different safety requirements by a bunch of various businesses and organizations– so which of these applies to air conditioner surge protectors?. For the most part, you wish to look at UL– previously Underwriters Laboratories.

UL is among a number of businesses approved to perform security screening by the U.S. federal firm Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA has a list of approved testing laboratories, which are recognized as Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories.

Even within UL though, there are a lot of security requirements that might use. For correct air conditioner surge protection, you’re primarily want to be taking a look at the UL 1449 security standard.

UL 1449 is the Underwriters Laboratories Safety Standard for Surge Protective Devices (SPD)– i.e. best for air conditioner surge protection.

So make sure your 220V air conditioner surge protector confirms to UL 1449.

Number of Sockets

There is nothing more aggravating than lacking power sockets. Specifically when it concerns surge protection– now you need to decide what goes boom if something fails.

You could go with a multi-plug extension lead, however, that’s going to cost more and take up more area, which isn’t ideal. So make certain you map out the range of sockets needed before you buy your air conditioner protector.

Clamping Voltage

Clamping voltage describes the maximum quantity of voltage that can pass a surge protector before it restricts further voltage from passing to the device it is attempting to secure.

For example, a 220V air conditioner surge protector might restrict a 6,000 V surge so that just 600V is ‘noticeable’ to the load. Hence here the clamping voltage for this air conditioner surge protector is 600V.

If the clamping voltage is expensive, then the surge protector will allow too much voltage to pass to your air conditioner (which will break it).

CHECK the optimum rated voltage of your air conditioner prior to purchasing a surge protector, so make certain that the clamping voltage of your air conditioner surge protection gadget is LOWER than the maximum operating voltage of your air conditioner.

In general, though, the clamping voltage needs to be LESS than 700V for an air conditioner surge protector.

Warranty

This one’s much easier to discuss– the bigger the warranty, the much better.

Not just for the obvious reason that if something fails, you’ll be able to make a claim, but for the signal that a long warranty indicates the quality of the air conditioner surge protector (or rather, the self-confidence the supplier has for the air conditioner surge protector).

If suppliers provided kindly long service warranties for 220V air conditioner surge protectors that folded after 2 weeks, they wouldn’t be around for long.

So you wish to long for longer warranties and high insurance payments on your 220V air conditioner surge protector (from a business that has actually been around for more than five years).