So bascially those whole house surge protectors that they sell at Lowe's and Home Depot aren't worth the money that you would spend on them because they only protect the breaker/fuse box?
It cannot protect a breaker/fuse box. It is too close. Best protection (ie found in every Telco switching center) is up to 50 meters distant from electronics. Separation increases protection (as defined by a concept called impedance).
A scam is easy to promote. If a protector is adjacent, then it is effective. Reality. A protector too close to appliances and too far from earth ground is least (ineffective) protection. It can even compromise what is better protection already inside every appliance.
By dismissing what was only speculation, now reread why a properly earthed solution is effective. Why protectors do not do protection. And why a protector is only as effective as its earth ground. Only then does one have an answer to this question. Where do hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate?
I think I understand ... A whole house surge protector cannot protect a fuse/breaker box because it's too close to it's earth ground? I mean, mine is in my garage on the first floor of my house, so it's approx 5 feet from ground earth.
But a whole house surge protector is far away from my miners on the second floor, so it would provide better protection to my electronics than a PDU, due to distance from earth ground?