Tips To Protect Your Appliances Against Power Surges

By Author: Maria Marshall
Total Articles: 23
Comment this article

ServicePlus: - Power surges are a prevalent cause of electrical-related device damage. If there’s a power surge, any connected device is at risk of damage regardless of its size. It’s always advisable to take a professional electrical service to implement a measure that protects the home appliances from power surges.

What is a power surge?
A power surge is an unexpected and temporary increase in the current or voltage of an electrical circuit that damages connected sensitive devices. When a device stops using power suddenly, there will be an increase in voltage which may be directed to another appliance and cause severe damage.

How to prevent power surges?
Flickering lights are an indication of power surges and in that case, you can cut off the outlets to protect your appliances from damage. However, this doesn’t fully protect your appliances. Why? The reason is simple- the damage may not happen because of one strong surge, instead, the damage can happen because of multiple minor surges.

To avoid power surges, you should not only take reactive measures, but you should ...
... also take help from a professional electrical design service.

Install a whole-house surge protector:
Companies that offer electrical design services often install a protector at the primary breaker. It works as a gateway for current coming into your appliances.

If there’s a sudden surge, the protector immediately shuts off the power and redirects the excess current to the underground wire.

Have additional protection from specific devices:
Even with a whole-house protector, it’s important to have added protection for delicate devices like refrigerators, computers, etc. Here are the types of protection that you can have-

• Have surge stations for cable lines and phones
• Use UPS to protect computers
• Install power strips

Upgrade air conditioning unit:
AC units tend to restart several times a day and when it continues, the current in the building increases and thus causing power surges. Fortunately, new AC models are energy-efficient and take less current to restart, reducing the chance of power surges.

Unplug electronic appliances during the storm:
Lighting strikes are a crucial cause of power surges. If there’s a storm, unplug all the devices immediately until the storm settles down.

So, now you might have realized that power surges are unpredictable and can cause damage to your critical home appliances. Hence, you should cover all the essential appliances of your home and AC unit under a comprehensive home warranty plan.