Did you know that proper surge protection could help avoid short circuits and fire hazards? In fact, using up-to-date surge protectors (suppressors) for your appliances, or even your entire house could save you thousands of dollars in property damage. These are just a few reasons why surge protection should be of the utmost importance for you and your home this holiday season.
What Are Power Surges?
First, before diving deeper into the different advantages of protecting your home against power surges, it’s important to understand what electrical surges are, and why they’re such a concern. An electrical surge, also known as a “voltage surge”, is an electrical disturbance that can be caused by a variety of spikes in voltage. More specifically, these surges are usually caused by lightning strikes, power outages, short circuits, or tripped circuit breakers. Problems occur when these short spikes in electrical power overload circuits in home appliances and other electronics.
Why Is It So Important To Protect Your Home Against Power Surges?
For starters, power surges can be very dangerous for you, your family, and your house. Surges are one of the most common causes of house fires, usually resulting from a combination of faulty wiring and irresponsible electronics hook-up by homeowners. This is especially apparent around the holidays. According to the Cheltenham Fire Department, “when putting up holiday lighting, surge protectors should be used instead of relying on extension cords.” Now, more than ever, people should be cautious about electrical disturbances and the possible danger they pose to their electronics—and even more importantly—their lives.
Even if a power surge doesn’t turn out to be dangerous, it can still be very costly. As a matter of fact, power surges can pack enough of a punch to short the power supply in a desktop computer, television set, or even a microwave. Basically, anything with internal electronic circuits can be affected by a voltage surge. That’s why it’s imperative that everyone use surge protectors for each and every appliance in their home. At the very minimum, one should consider whole-house surge protection, or even just safeguarding higher-priced appliances such as LCD Televisions, microwaves, and desktop computers.
The Benefits Of Power Conditioning & How Controlled Voltage Delivery Could Save You Money
Aside from protecting your home from voltage surges, you should also consider the amount of energy that is wasted from many of your appliances. And remember that with wasted energy comes wasted money.
One money-saving solution may be installing power conditioners in your home:
- Simply put, a power conditioner is a device that delivers clean (steady) power to your devices.
- It is designed to distribute a stabilized and continuous voltage level which eliminates dips and line static—important for all of you who own surround sound systems in your home theater.
As a consumer, it’s important to be informed about devices and services that can save you money, improve the longevity of your investments (e.g., Flat-panel television, etc.), and even protect your home.
If you have any more questions about power surging, or if you decide that you would like to look into protecting your home against electrical surges, contact our helpful team at ElectricMan Inc. We are here 24-hours a day, 7 days a week to serve you.