Protecting your homes electrical system from storm damage can be a highly valuable step to take, especially with storm season right around the corner. The best way to ensure this protection is to invest in whole-house surge protection.

Did you know that lightning isn’t the only thing that can cause damage to your home’s electrical system? Power surges can come at any time and can leave devastating effects. Outages can happen anywhere in the home so quickly that you might not even notice they happened.

The average home experiences a number of smaller power surges throughout the day but even surges as small as these can cause detrimental effects to your homes electrical system and electronics.

Why Do Power Surges Happen?

Power surges can originate from a number of places outside the home during power grid switching or over voltages on utility lines. They can also come from inside the home and can even occur when you turn larger appliances on and off.

Large power surges can come from things like lightning and downed power lines and although these are less common than the smaller power surges occurring every day, the damage they leave behind is major.

Over time, even small and frequent power surges can provide wear and tear on your home’s electrical system and electronics and shorten their lifespan. Some fast electrical transients, or over voltages, are short in duration but still supremely damaging. Some of these consist of:

• Inductive spikes
• Malfunctions caused by your power provider
• Power transitions in large equipment that shares the same power line
• Electromagnetic pulses with electromagnetic energy
• Short circuits
• Tripped circuit breakers
• Power outages
• Lightning

How to Protect Your Home’s Electrical System & Electronics

The best defense against a power surge of any magnitude is to invest in whole-house surge protection. Modern surge protectors are about to stop power surges by using metal oxide varistors. They are usually connected to a home’s main electrical service box but located in a convenient location for easier accessibility.

Individual surge protectors placed at the point of use are better than no protection at all, but they most likely won’t have the ability to shunt large electrical surges from outside sources such as lightning and other high-energy surges. For total damage protection, you’ll need one of our skilled and knowledgeable professionals to install whole-home surge protection.

How to Protect Your Home Against the Electrical Damage of Lightning Strikes

• Turn off the power to your water well pump at the breaker box in the event of a severe storm. Damage to your pump could result in no access to water.
• Make sure all of the electronics in your home are plugged into surge protectors, especially during storm season.
• Ensure that the surge protectors you are purchasing have the power to provide the correct amount of protection
• Consider investing in a generator. In the case of a power outage, these are especially important to those who have medical equipment in their home.

Why You Should Invest in Whole-House Surge Protection

You Have Options

There are several whole-house systems available for various voltage needs. Different homes require different voltage service, depending on when and how they were built. A standard home should never receive a surge more than 10kA, although there are options to protect against surges that size and much larger. Be mindful of the different brands available to you and the warranties they provide.

· Protection of Your Entire Electrical System

The job of a whole-house surge protector is to prevent your home’s appliances and electronics from damage, but it also protects the entire electrical system of your home. When a powerful surge comes from a home appliance on any given circuit, the whole-home surge protection will send the surge back through the panel break where it is then stopped, protecting all of the other electrical equipment in your home. A whole-house surge protector guards every outlet.

· The Importance of Layering

It is in your best interest to speak to one of our highly-skilled and expert professionals about layering the whole-house surge protection, especially if you have elaborate electronic setups such as entertainment or gaming systems.

If an appliance in your home sends a surge through a circuit it shares, other outlets could easily and quickly become compromised. This is one major reason you don’t want to rely only on surge protectors that are located just at the point of use. A layered system is connected directly to your electrical panel and connects everything, not just one circuit.

· Most Power Surges Are Generated Internally

Most of the power surges that occur are extremely short and come from one of your home’s appliances. These small, transient surges don’t cause catastrophic damage by any means, but over time they can break down the performance and shorten the lifespan of your electronics and appliances.

· Protect Your Homes Technology

A modern or newer house will have more electronic gadgets and electrical equipment than homes built less recently. Modern home appliances now contain circuit boards which need to be protected from surges to ensure they operate correctly. LED lightbulbs also contain a microcircuit board, surprisingly enough, and are extremely sensitive to electrical surges. Both of these can become easily compromised without protection.

The number of gadgets the average homeowner has is said to have increased considerably over the last decade alone. Computers, tablets, televisions, and smartphones all carry essential information to one’s identity and need to be protected. With whole-house surge protection, this protection is guaranteed.

As we face storm season, head-on, we encourage you now, more than ever to consider investing in whole-house surge protection for the various important reasons listed above. Having that added level of protection and peace of mind can protect your home, your electronics, and your wallet.

If you have your electronics plugged into power strips, be sure they provide surge protection as well, as not all power strips do. If you don’t have any surge protection in your home, it’s time to call one of our friendly, helpful, and experienced professionals to help you make the change today!