Did you know that internal factors cause about 90% of the power surges that occur within your home?
Many of the power surges within your home take place without you even realizing it.
Any time you use electronics or appliances that consume a large amount of electricity and then shut them off, it creates excess voltage within your electrical system and leads to a small power surge.
The good news is that this doesn’t usually result in any power surge damage.
Your electrical system is designed to handle this excess voltage while keeping your home safe.
But there are also many external factors—like thunderstorms that cause lightning to strike power lines—that can damage power surges within your home.
It’s important to do whatever it takes to stop these external factors from taking a toll on your home.
Here are some of how you can protect your home from power surge damage caused by both internal and external factors.
Begin by Learning About What Power Surges Are
Before you start learning about the different ways to stop power surge damage from affecting your home, you need to know exactly what power surges are.
A power surge is a temporary increase in the voltage of an electrical circuit within your home.
It can send too much electricity into your home’s electronics and appliances at one time and cause damage to them in the process.
As we just mentioned, some power surges take place when electronics or appliances within your home shut off.
The electricity that was being used to power them is suddenly no longer needed.
It results in the voltage from it dispersing throughout your electrical system without warning.
Some power surges also take place when something occurs outside your home that causes a sudden spike in electricity.
For example, if lightning strikes a power line near your home, it can send too much electricity into your house at once and cause a power surge.
Plug Your Most Important Electronics and Appliances Into Power Surge Protectors
Now that you know what power surges are and what can cause them let’s take some time to learn about what you can do to prevent power surge damage within your house.
It’s not all that difficult to do in most cases.
One of the most effective ways to stop a power surge from doing damage inside your home is by plugging your most important electronics and appliances into power surge protectors.
Use power surge protectors for:
- Computers
- Modems
- Smartphones
- TVs
- Tablets
If a power surge happens to take place in your home, your power surge protectors should be able to stop these things from sustaining damage.
Consider Installing a Whole-House Surge Protector
Would you like to protect your entire home against power surges as opposed to protecting just a few important items?
You can do this by investing in a whole-house surge protector.
A whole-house surge protector will help your home manage the electricity coming into it more effectively.
It’ll also help prevent power surges from having an impact on your home by stopping any sudden surges from getting through your front door.
A whole-house surge protector will redirect excess voltage underground rather than allowing it to enter your home.
This will stop power surges from doing damage to any of your home’s electronics and appliances.
Think About Upgrading Some of Your Home’s Older Appliances
Do you have a few older appliances in your home that use up a ridiculous amount of electricity on a daily basis?
You should think about having these appliances replaced with newer models as soon as you can, if possible.
By doing this, you’ll save a lot of money every month on your energy bills.
But maybe importantly, you’ll also reduce the chances of these appliances causing power surges in your home.
An old air conditioning unit, for example, will often require quite a bit of electricity to run.
It can also cause power surges to occur when it shuts off.
Newer AC units don’t use up as much energy as your older ones.
So by replacing your existing AC unit with a newer model, you can cut your energy costs while also limiting the number of power surges that affect your home.
Hire an Electrician to Inspect Your Home’s Electrical System
When was the last time you had an electrician come out to your home to inspect your electrical system?
If it’s been more than a few years, now would be a great time to do it.
An electrician can take a look at your electrical system to see if there is any electrical wiring that has gone bad.
If it has, it could cause all kinds of problems in terms of power surges.
An electrician can put new wiring into place that’s better equipped to handle excess voltage within your system.
It’ll make power surge damage less of a problem for you.
Stay Up to Date on the Latest Power Surge Risks
Power surges can be caused by more than just old AC units and thunderstorms with lots of lightning.
In this day and age, people also need to be concerned about things like EMP attacks and impacting a home’s electrical system.
You need to know how a potential EMP attack can affect your home and how to protect it from the power surges that often come along with one.
Even though EMP attacks still sound like a far-fetched concept to some people, they could have a big impact on the world in the not-too-distant future.
Avoid Power Surge Damage in Your Home at All Costs
It’s impossible to steer clear of power surges altogether.
They’re going to take place within your home from time to time for one reason or another.
But you can prepare for them and limit the power surge damage that they’re able to do.
Use the tips found here to get your home more prepared for future power surges.
Check out our blog for additional tips and tricks on keeping your home’s electrical system safe.
Resources:
https://www.penlight.org/frequently-asked-questions/what-causes-power-surges/
https://techprotectbag.com/what-is-an-emp-attack-heres-everything-you-need-to-know/