What Are the Benefits of Whole Home Surge Protection?
Do you have a power strip with surge protection? If you do, you’re probably concerned about protecting your expensive electrical equipment from damage. Homeowners often use these surge protectors for TVs and computers, but what about the effect of surges on other electrical equipment in the home?
What Is a Power Surge?
Electronic equipment is typically designed to handle a voltage of 120 volts. A power surge occurs when the electrical power supplied to your appliances is higher than normal.
When the electricity is restored after a power outage, this can cause a surge of power in the electrical system. These surges can be unpredictable and may result in reduced performance or damage the device completely.
How Often Do Power Surges Occur?
While power surges caused by outages happen periodically, your appliances are exposed to smaller surges dozens of times a day. Power surges are also caused when you use too many extension cords or have too many electronic devices plugged into the same circuit.
Using powerful equipment such as air conditioners, power tools, and space heaters can overload a circuit. They draw power away from other smaller devices, and when they are turned off, the return of the regular power to the smaller devices often results in a surge.
How Do Surges Damage Your Equipment
While a huge surge can severely damage your equipment, small surges also affect your appliances. If the power entering the device exceeds its usual operating level, it can trigger an electrical current arc within the device and generate higher-than-normal levels of heat that can harm sensitive electronic circuit boards and other components. This affects the lifespan of your equipment, so you have to replace it sooner.
What Electrical Equipment Should I Protect?
If you use a power strip surge protector, chances are that only a few of your devices are protected. It’s essential to consider all of the electrical equipment and appliances in your home. This includes your furnace, electric stove, dishwasher, fridge, washing machine, and tumble dryer. Power surges also affect devices such as cell phones, tablets, laptops, and other connected devices. Surges can also affect hairdryers and vacuums and blow out light bulbs.
Is it Worth Getting Whole Home Surge Protection?
While individual surge protective devices are better than nothing, it is definitely worth considering whole home surge protection for all of your electronic devices. These heavy-duty surge suppressors block the surge from entering the home circuits right at the load centre, keeping all of your electronic equipment safe. In the long run, a whole home surge protector also makes economic sense as it is costly to replace damaged appliances.
Who Needs Whole Home Surge Protection?
We all have multiple appliances in the home, so whole home surge suppressors offer advantages to everyone. However, if you work from home and are reliant on computers, printers, and other electronic equipment to carry out your job, we recommend that you consider investing in a whole home surge protector. The same is true if you have valuable electronics and appliances you wish to protect.
Who Can Install a Whole Home Surge Protector?
While installing a whole-home surge protector only takes a few hours, it is essential that you only hire a licensed electrical contractor to install it. This way, you can avoid any risk of electrocution or damage to your home's electrical system. If the surge protector is not installed correctly, you may be at risk of fire, putting your home and your family’s lives at risk.
Get the Benefits of Whole Home Surge Protection in St. Albert
If you would like to find out more about whole home surge protection, contact your local St. Albert electricians. Our electricians have over 20 years of experience upgrading the electrical in both residential and commercial spaces and ensuring your electrical system is safe. Call us today! We’d be happy to help!