QSA2020SPD Whole House Surge Protection with Two 20-Amp Circuit Breakers for Use Only on Siemens Panels

Solves two things in one device. It protects 2 circuits and protects your whole house from surge damage. You don't loose two spaces in the breaker box only to have surge protection because it combines both. Easy to install. Just try to rearrange some breakers to get it positioned as close to the main breaker and the service entrance cables. This device covers both feeds in your box. If you are not comfortable with electricity call a qualified person.

This is a great solution for adding surge protection without a lot of hassle or added expense. It fit our new Murray panel perfectly. (Murray is a Siemens product) There have been reviews questioning the effectiveness of this product which are simply unfounded. There have also been posts suggesting this product requires a grounded neutral bar in the box, this too is inaccurate. For anyone trying to install this product in anything but a Murray or Siemens panel forget about the warranty (whether it fits or not). The specific data sheet for this product directly states that this surge protector dumps surges across the hot and neutral wires. It says nothing about a ground wire anywhere. Also don't expect this device to protect all you equipment form every possible surge, you should always use an extra surge protector for you sensitive devices. Here is a bit more info on how products like this work and why those people saying it won't work are wrong. Inside the product is a "varistor" (it says so on the product data sheet) that is connected directly from the Hot bars(there are 2 of them) in the panel to the Neutral bar in the panel. A varistor resists all electrical flow below a specific threshold usually measured in voltage. Above that threshold (120 volts for this device) electricity starts to flow through the varistor increasing exponentially as the voltage goes up. This effectively short circuits electricity coming from any surge (usually this is from devices inside the house like washing machines ) from the hot to the neutral. Since electricity takes the path of least resistance that surge will dump back out onto the grid (unless there has been some catastrophe inside the home or something is wired wrong). Code requires panels that do not have a grounded neutral to have a separate ground wire back to the main shutoff panel where the neutral and ground are tied together so any surge coming from a grounded wire has to go back to the main panel and come into the protected panel through the neutral wire where it will be dumped onto the hot thus protecting the circuits.

Originally I purchased this to go into the home's main panel. However that panel was full of 240v 2-pole breakers. You can't use this to replace an existing 240v 2 pole breaker, it can only replace two 120v single pole breakers. Instead we installed this into a sub-panel in the garage. It replaced two 20 amp single pole breakers. The electrician had it installed in 10 minutes. The device comes with an information label that is installed inside the panel to alert electricians in the future that this device is present in the panel. The two lights showing that protection is enabled are easy to see in the garage. The lights cannot be seen when installed in an outside panel, they are not super bright. The photo of our outside panel was taken in twilight. I purchased another 15 amp version of this device that we will have installed in the HVAC unit sub panel. The house and HVAC will be protected against surges when we are complete. The only circuits that won't be protected are a window air conditioner and an EV charging unit. The surge protector comes with a two year residential warranty which includes up to $20,000 damage insurance. Repairs have to be authorized by Siemens for the insurance to be applicable, the 800 number is only manned during normal business hours. I think we can take the insurance with a pinch of salt since they make it tricky to use.

Quick and easy install. Hard to tell how well it works. It one of those things, if nothing happens it probably works 😁

Overall a good surge suppressor that is exceptionally easy to install, although I strongly recommend against ANY Homeowner working in their electrical panel. It's a good way to get killed, or injured if you are not a qualified electrician. Having said that, you should be aware that this surge suppressor will not protect from a lightning strike that enters the house on a low-voltage coax, or data line. Think of the path it takes. If the surge comes in through the service cables into your main electrical panel, it will have to go through a whole-house surge suppressor before it goes through the branch circuit breakers, but that is an unlikely scenario. "Whole-house" is a misnomer, because as I mentioned, this surge suppressor, or any other brand that mounts inside, or attaches to the main electrical panel, will not protect from a lightning strike that enters through a low-voltage line. Not only that, most whole-house surge suppressors are not going to offer a lot of protection from a lightning strike because they don't usually enter the house through the main electrical panel. The factory-recommended installation is at the top 2 spaces below your main breaker on either side. (This also holds true for other brands powered by a separate 2-pole breaker.) Also know most of the surge suppressor companies do not guarantee "connected" loads, which means virtually any plugged-in, or hard-wired load (appliance, TV, other electronics, etc.). You also need to be aware that all the manufacturers of "whole-house" surge suppressors recommend "layering" surge strips throughout your house in conjunction with a whole-house suppressor. This gives an added layer of surge protection. Leviton has a pretty good one that mounts outside the panel and is powered by a separate 2-pole breaker. It comes with a seemingly good warranty, although I have never had to exercise it. This suppressor is definitely a more difficult install than the Siemens, though. The Siemens whole-house surge suppressor we are talking about did do its job on one of my customer's house that had a compromised neutral from a car hitting a power pole in the neighborhood. Both green lights were out and the unit was fried due to high voltage spikes on each incoming 120 volt leg. The unit had a strong burnt odor to it and it was replaced. Most people do not realize that voltage spikes are most commonly caused by "compromised neutrals", not lightning strikes. These are usually caused on the power companies side of the equation, but you will never get any recourse from them. Trust me. My comments are from personal experience and I am a long-time electrical contractor.

Added whole house surge protection via this product around 2008 after taking a surge the burned out several electronic items. Was a very costly event. The original version of this product took it's final surge when a tree took out the power lines in the neighborhood this year. We had no surge damage cause this product took the hit and did its job perfectly. Some of our neighbors were not so lucky. When power was restored, the breaker had tripped (notifying us it took a surge, it was the only breaker that did trip per design) reset the breakers but the green surge protection lights were out, so we knew it had to be replaced. While waiting for this replacement to arrive, the 2 circuits controlled by the old unit worked, just without whole house surge protection. This is a great feature because the main breaker box door is in a room we do not use every day and with the panel door closed you might not notice that the surge protector is out (some other products that must be visually checked). Siemens now offers some newer products with better ratings; however, I like this design due to the built in breakers, if the lights in the master bedroom and kitchen are out but the rest of the house has power, it's a good bet that our whole house surge protector is doing its job.

Takes 5 mins to install (please don’t play around with electricity if you don’t know what your doing, also pet peeve I go to a lot of homes with children running around and the parents I’m guessing dads take the panel cover off and leave it off!!! I get so upset!!! It takes 4 screws put it back on and save someone’s life!! , I like that it doesn’t use up 2 breaker spaces since it has 2 20 amp breakers built in which make install as easy as swapping out 2 20 amp breakers and popping this surge protector in its place. both lights are lit so seems to be working. Hopefully never need to find out

This was a replacement for one that burned out in a storm. Do not try to install this if you are not sure how to work in live power panels.

Installed easy Seems to work well

I just purchased the Sieman's 20 AMP Circuit Breaker and Surge Protective Device and has it installed in our breaker panel. The installation is easy if you know what you are doing. I had an electrician do the installation in order to not void our insurance coverage.

Exactly as described and cheaper than my local suppliers!

Easy to install in my Siemens panel. Like some other reviewers mentioned, the front face label surrounding the LEDs was a bit crooked on mine. This is because the shape of the breakers behind is tapered which doesn’t leave much surface for the label to stick to. This doesn’t affect the functionality of the breakers at all, but it is a bit annoying. I trimmed the label a bit to get it to line up better.

Easy to install in a siemens panel