Do I Need A Surge Protector For My Copier?

One of the questions we get is if a copier should be plugged in to the wall, or if it is better to use a surge protector for the copier to prevent issues.  We dug in to this a bit and found some interesting answers.

From Xerox –

To solve or at least narrow down this issue you will be asked by support to plug the machine into a dedicated outlet. That means no power strip and no surge protector. Plug the printer into the outlet and unplug any other devices from the outlet.

Insufficient power can keep the machine from operating correctly so by removing any other devices between the machine and the power source we can see if it is a power issue or something else. If the problem continues after plugging directly into the outlet you may be asked to try another outlet and to plug something else into the outlet to make sure it is working properly. If the printer works when isolated to the dedicated outlet then the issue was with the previous connection.

Our translation of their answer…

So what this means – is you may want to use a surge protector, but if that surge protector doesn’t allow sufficient power, the copier won’t work correctly.

 

According to a TrippLite Rep on Spiceworks

Also the larger a UPS system, the larger the input circuit needed. Along with the larger input circuit may also be a high voltage requirement.

Plus a lot of times it’s kind of difficult to determine what that inrush is without an amp meter–and amp meters aren’t always that accurate.

So really what we would suggest leading with is either a surge suppressor or a line conditioner. These products will at least provide surge, spike, and line conditioning to the printers.

 

So – Here it appears that, yes, they are suggested, but your average on at the big box store isn’t like to be what you are looking for.

We have seen the Colorqube not work with Xerox and when we called and asked, they said those had to be plugged directly into the wall not to have issues.  Ultimately, it would seem that having a solid system is prudent, and making sure the system can handle the amps and voltage are key as printers and copiers tend to spike some while warming up.