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Here’s How You Can Protect Your Home from a Power Surge

Power surges at home are not only dangerous, but can also cause expensive damage to appliances, devices, and electronics plugged into any outlet when the surge is actually happening.

There’s a chance of you noticing a severe power suede that causes major instantaneous destruction, but you might not be aware when small power surges happen as they only last for a microsecond or even less.

These small surges have the ability to cause damage to your items that eventually add up over a period of time. In either case, the damage that power surges cause major appliances, pricey TVs, and computers can be costly.

In this article, we will explain what a power surge is and how you can prevent high-voltage power surges at home.

What is a Power Surge?

A power surge is when there’s an increased amount of voltage running through your home’s electrical circuits. The normal voltage in most houses is 120 volts, with 169 volts being at their peak.

When a power surge happens, the voltage rate jumps up dramatically. This unexpected intensification of voltage end sup pushing way too much electricity through your electrical wires and into devices connected to it at that point of time, even if they are turned off

What Causes a Power Surge?

It’s common for people to usually associate power surges with natural events, such as lighting strikes. But, truth be told, there are many ways how a power surge can happen. Here are some of the more common causes for power surges:

Downed Power Lines

When winds, snow, ice, or falling tree limb takes down a power line, there’s a high chance of cold swings happening in your electrical voltage levels, before the power goes out entirely. Moreover, such instances can cause a power outage, which is a common cause of power surges.

Lightning Strikes

Even though lighting strikes are the rarest cause for power surges, they can still turn out to be very dramatic. The total amount of electricity being discharged by lightning strikes can be measures in millions of volts.

When this much high-voltage surges through your home’s system, it has the ability to explode your electrical devices. In fact, it may even cause serious damage to you if you are standing nearby your plugged-in electrical devices.

Faulty Wiring

Faulty, old, and improperly installed wires are another common cause of power surges. If you happen to notice your lights flickers, you might be at risk for a power surge, or even an electrical fire.

High Power Demand

When the demand for electrically is particularly high. For instance, on a hot day when everyone has their air-conditioners on, a power surge is likely to result. Both power utilities and suppliers might struggle to keep up with this demand, which results in a destructive power surge when the power comes back on after a temporary loss of power due to high power demand.

How to Prevent a Power Surge?

Here are some ways you can prevent a power surge:

Invest in a Surge Protector or Whole-Home Surge Protection

The easiest and most affordable way to deal with power surges is to plug expensive appliances, electronics, and devices into a surge protector. While they don’t provide protection for an extremely strong surge, they do provide protection against damage that may happen due to continuous lower-voltage surges.

However, if you want better protection, you should invest in a whole-home surge protection system. Unlike surge protectors, these whole-home surge protection systems are installed in your main electrical panel and provide protection to the entire home, even when there’s an external surge source.

Inspect Your Home’s Wiring

As mentioned earlier, faulty wirings are one of the common causes of power surges and house fires. If you have a rather old home, it’s best to have a full-house electrical inspection. Moreover, if you discovered rodents in the house, have your wires inspected as well.

Unplug Devices When Not in Use

We have the tendency to leave our electronics and devices plugged in at all times, even when they are not in use. You should unplug them when you are not using them, especially sensitive appliances and electronics during a storm. Even though a while-home surge protection system keeps your devices safes, the best protection is still to disconnect them.

Conclusion

We have established how dangerous and damaging power surges can be, their causes, and how you can prevent them from damaging your electronics. You need to consciously put in an effort to make sure to follow the above-mentioned steps.

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