dereckbc,
OK, your last post made more sense to me. Especially: this "Although the reference ground point (the N-G bond) goes to 10,000 volts, so does our Line and neutral voltage". My thoughts were that the excess line surge needed to be re-directed, and to ground, but if the ground has the same surge current on it...Also, I'd like to add that I'm in Florida, and you know we have lot's of lightning here. But, a recent study conducted in Tampa (I'm not sure of the date of this study), shows that 80% of the surges came from equipment inside the premises, while only 20% came from lighning and the utlility. So this led to my other belief, that a surge from inside, had to be directed to the outside of the premises. And when I'm talking about a surge re-direction, I'm talking about the excess voltage that escaped the clamping devices. If I remember correctly, the article said that only 20% of the surges were from outside sources, because of how effective modern day service entrance TVSS is.