Power surges in England ?

I have used portable computers and other electronic equipment in Britain for the past 30 years, and have never experienced a power surge, or anything else which has caused damage to my equipment. It is possible that they do occur on some occasions and in some situations, but I think there is little risk when using a computer in a home or a hotel. Surge protectors are sold in Britain, but I think their appeal is that they are bundled in with other features in a multi-socket device.

You were dealing with a dolt. Go back and ask him how many power surges he's experienced in England. Better yet, ask him if he's ever been to England, just to establish rapport and get the conversation going on the right foot. Essentially there are three ways to get a power surge. a. Lightning strike between the low voltage transformer (the one on the pole or in the street box near the house) and the building in which you're in. b. Massive, weird-ass shorting of the substation (not loss of the substation). c. Failure of the building's neutral line. Almost impossible in a modern building and older residential English construction doesn't have a neutral. Somebody else can talk about what's going to happen if you stick your own surge protector in the system. They're more colorful than I.

> Has anyone else experienced a power surge problem? If so, is there
> a surge protector available I could buy to protect my Chromebook? All electronics contain superb protection internally. Most all transients are therefore only noise. Your concern is the rare transient that can overwhelm that protection. That occurs maybe once every seven years. And much less frequently in England. Protectors for this one and destructive type surge must be where wires enter the building and connect very short to earth ground. Better protection also means that protector must be distant from electronics as many times shorter to earth. Sometimes a protector adjacent to the computer can even make surge damage easier. And, of course, that adjacent and completely different device (also called a protector) does not claim to protect from destructive surges. Protection of your hardware must occur where destructive surges get connected within meters of earth ground. Nothing on your power cord will do better than what is already inside every computer.

The guy is after a commission. if you'd told him you were moving to Portland, he would have tried to scare you about flaky power there. I assume Chromebooks can switch to 220v. Don't forget to do that and bring along a plug adaptor. You'll be fine.