A surge protector includes a thermal separating device and an error display, and at least two first protection elements, particularly disk-shaped varistors (7), and at least one second protection element, particularly a gas arrester (9), wherein the first and the at least one second protection elements are switched in a Y arrangement. The surge protector further includes a device housing for accommodating the protection elements, and structure, such as a spring (11), for the mechanical biasing of the thermal separating device, wherein the thermal separating device has a low-melting solder, and the first protection elements (7) are disposed in the device housing such that a connection arm of a protection element (7) is positioned opposite the connection arm of the further protection element (7) at a distance, and the thermal separating device is predominantly positioned in the distance space (13) formed in such a manner.