Entertainment Center: TVs, Stereos, VCRs and DVDs - Protecting our new TV

We just bought a Vizio 37 inch. I live in an older house. I am worried if we have a power surge what this may do to our TV. We had a surge last summer and this thing was too expensive to have anything happen to. All of my outlets in the living room are 2 prong and allt he surge protectors are 3 prong.
Thanks

Can you check the outlet box to see if you have a ground? IF you have a metal grounded box that the outlet is installed in, you can install a 3 prong grounded outlet in its place and bring your outlet up to date.

:alarm: You are only allowed to do this if the new outlet will be grounded, so you have to check that first.

Usually, if the house is wired with BX it should be grounded at the panel and metal outlet boxes are used, unless some knucklehead rewired everything with plastic boxes using the old BX (not allowed in my neck of the woods).

The next option would be to get a 2 prong/3 prong adapter IF your box is grounded and you do not want to change the outlet. It has a wire that screws on to the plate mounting screw and it picks up the ground that way, however it will only work if the box is grounded and only if the outlet center screw is picking up the ground from the box ok.

I could be wrong, but for this to work right, you need a grounded connection.

The florescent lights in the TV need a ground, or they might not function well.

Your surge protector needs a ground to function too (be sure it offers surge protection and is not just a power strip with a circuit breaker).

Check to see if the box is grounded. If so, properly install a grounded receptacle. If it is not, you may need to add a circuit for the TV (which would be a good idea anyway so your entertainment center doesn't overload the existing circuits).

Not to be the harbinger of bad news but our experience with Visio has not been what we would consider ‘High Quality’. Don’t get me wrong, the sets give a good picture but getting replacement parts is going to bite you. As far as we can determine they produce X number of sets of a particular model. Ten percent (or so) are set aside for replacement parts. When they are gone, there gone (NLA). If your set is in warranty they will give you a new model tv if the parts for yours are NLA. If it’s out of warranty, I hope you purchased a contract with replacement coverage. The expected lifespan is about the same as any other flat screen. But you can’t expect it to last as long as your older CRT based set. Four to five years will be the average.
If you are the type that want to use a surge protector, make sure you get one with a warranty. Every year our business jumps the same percentage after a storm rolls through. So my opinion of them are quite low.
My beliefs are my own, but I have been repairing TVs for over 30 years.

dakota