SMART  HOME  ELECTRIC

Explaining a Surge

 

A power surge or spike is a momentary burst of electricity through a home’s electrical lines. It is caused by a sudden change outside or inside the house.

Surges can increase the energy in a home’s lines by hundreds or even thousands of volts and only last milliseconds.

 

Events inside and outside of homes can cause power surges. Many people first think of lightning, which is a risk factor, but 80 percent of surges are caused within a home. Outside causes of power spikes are power outages, grid shifting and capacitor shifting performed by utility companies as well as personal backup power generators.

 

Inside a home, events such as resetting a tripped breaker and turning on pool pumps, AC units or other devices with large motors can cause energy bursts.

 

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Why Protection is Critical

 

Power surges can destroy electrical devices in homes, including HD and LED TVs, computers, AC units, refrigerators, microwaves, washers, and dryers.

 

Technology is becoming more ingrained into homes and people are plugging in more than ever. A large power surge could take out multiple expensive devices at once that homeowners then have to replace. But that isn’t the most likely scenario.

 

Homes often experience multiple smaller power surges that aren’t even noticed. They may not ruin many appliances at once but will continually damage devices over time, which dramatically reduces their performance and longevity.

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Types of Surge Protection Devices

 

Many homeowners only use surge protection at the point of use for their devices, such as surge protected outlets or power strips, but this isn’t enough. The best protection is layered throughout the home.

Surge protection at the electric panel and inside the home for individual devices provides the best protection.

 

 

Surge Protection for the Electrical Panel

Surge protection is mounted on the load side of a home’s electric service panel to protect against the residual energy from the outside source of a spike or to protect against internally generated surges, such as switching on the AC system.

 

If an appliance inside a home sends out a spike of energy and it isn’t on its own dedicated circuit, it can affect other devices. This protection suppresses the surge before it moves along to other outlets.

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Surge Protection Inside the Home for Electrical Devices

Surge strip or outlet protection is what most consumers think of when they consider surge protection.

These are used for point-of-use protection for individual devices. There are many types, including surge protected outlets, plug-in adaptors, and power strips, electrician near me has brought you to the right place for your surge protection needs.