installing new UPS for my office and needs electrical work...

[hecktic]

Protectors must earth direct lightning strikes that are typically 20,000 amps. So a minimally sized protector starts at 50,000 amps. That is for residential protection where power is shared by other homes. And when incoming power is limited to 200 amp service.

Protector life expectancy is ballpark measured by its current rating. Increasing a protector to 100,000 amps would exponentially increase the protector life expectancy.

Alright so at least 50,000 amps but 100,000 amps would be better... I will look for the highest I can get at the best price. Maybe 150,000 to 200,000 seeing as the utility company we have is the same for the rest of the block and the whole block went down for a good couple of hours so I would probably guess the primary earth protections at the pole are of bad quality or need to be updated. My guess is they may have done this now after that whole incident last week when everything on the block was down. But I have no control over the utility company.

A protector is also selected based upon service. For example home have single phase, split phase, or two phase electric (depending on the viewpoint of the observer). Commercial facilities may have three phase service. A 'whole house' protector is also selected by phase.

Ah I see, but if I may ask, what is the difference among the phases or how do they work in respect to a commercial setting like the server/data room?

And pricing I am guessing goes higher with additional phases ?

(oh and I also gotta get a whole house protector for my apartment along with a dedicated 20amp line for my new Air Conditioner unit.... its a 14,000 btu, approx 1500watt unit)

A 'whole house' protector is only secondary protection. Primary protection is provided by the utility. A picture of what should be inspected so that the primary protection system is also functional:
http://www.tvtower.com/fpl.html

Quality of single point earth ground mostly determines how a protector works during one surge. A protector's 'amps' mostly determines its life expectancy over many surges.

yeah PG&E, our electric provider does a bad job in my area. I might have to call them up and ask them about the condition of the primary protection they have setup at the poles outside.

p.s. I appreciate your continued help and patience with me throughout this thread. I know these are probably very very basic questions and you probably dont get them a lot. But if there is anything I can do to thank you for your help, please just tell me. I am guessing you work in the electrical industry.