USE OF SURGE ARRESTERS IN DORMITORIES

Following the electrical fire in the Aladağ district of Adana, which resulted in the tragedy of eleven students—leaving deep wounds in the public conscience and raising the question “Could precautions have been taken?”—twelve lives were tragically lost, and those responsible were sentenced to eight to twelve years of imprisonment.

So, who were the responsible parties? Why were precautions not taken?

According to the Regulation on the Preparation of Interior Installation Projects, which came into force after being published in the Official Gazette No. 25305 on December 3, 2003, the selection of surge arresters (SPD), pulse protection devices, and other surge suppressors is mandatory under the heading of protection systems.

This means the legally responsible parties were the project engineers, the contractor, and the dormitory manager, who also lost his daughter in the incident. The dormitory manager and the contractor might not even have been aware of the application since it wasn’t in the project; however, they are legally jointly and severally liable.

Surge arresters and pulse protection devices are protection products responsible for discharging the excess load between the ground and clouds, especially during lightning. Surge suppressors, on the other hand, are protection products tasked with dampening any overvoltage formation, including lightning.

Since it is not possible to prevent overvoltage in systems where only standard surge arresters and pulse protection devices are used, a surge suppressor will be required. However, if a new generation surge arrester—which simultaneously performs the duties of surge suppressors, surge arresters, and pulse protection devices—is used in the system, there will be no need for separate surge arresters, pulse protectors, or surge suppressors.

Indeed, looking at the incident in Aladağ, after the meter replacement was performed, most likely due to a faulty or loose neutral terminal of the meter, a neutral failure or loosening occurred. Under unbalanced loads, the phase-to-neutral voltage, which should be 220V, rose to 380V levels, burning the systems and causing the fire.

In such a situation, surge arresters and pulse protection devices, along with products like residual current devices (RCD), fire protection relays, and fuses, have nothing they can do.

New Generation Surge Arresters

The products that can prevent damage in the event of a neutral failure are surge suppressors and new generation surge arresters.

In case of a neutral failure, the excess voltage that occurs under unbalanced loads will also rise between neutral and ground. Once the threshold value is exceeded, surge suppressors and new generation surge arresters will flow a current starting from 32 mA from neutral to ground,