Quote Originally Posted by rcurlee View Post
Lightinng protection was not mentioned last December during the pump replacement or when I replaced the Hayward single speed pump 6 years ago.
As I mentioned, Pentair and Hayward don't want to talk about this issue, because it highlights a worrisome weakness in their products -- and these are high profit products.

Surge protection limits voltage surges that can result from nearby lighting, from power company switching, and so on. It's not really lightning protection: if lightning hits within 100' of your house, surge protection probably won't stop the damage.

Plain old-style mechanical pumps don't seem to be damaged by surges, or even nearby strikes. Of course direct strikes destroy all electrical equipment. By contrast, VS pumps have electronic components that are apparently quite sensitive to voltage surges.

I won't have more specific recommendations till I finish talking to Leviton, and possibly some others.