Unfortunately, power surges are one of the many things you have no control over that can seriously damage your home’s appliances, electronics, and other parts. However, there is good news! You can install a whole-home surge suppressor to protect your home from an electrical surge.
What is an electrical surge?
To understand what causes a power surge in a house, you must know how power is distributed. It’s pretty simple.
Electricity is generated and directed into the power grid. Through large power lines (the ones you often see in fields), power is distributed to substations, which “step down” the high-voltage power to a lower voltage. Smaller power lines, like the ones on your street, carry hundreds to thousands of volts of power throughout the city. The power travels through transformers (the grey cylinders atop electrical poles), which “step down” the power to 240v. At this point, power flows safely into your home through your electrical power stack.
Power flow is made up of two parts, voltage and current. Electricity flowing through wires is just like water flowing through a pipe. The pipe has water and pressure that pushes it through. In electrical terms, current is the water, and voltage is the pressure. If either increases too much, it can “flood” your electrical system and cause damage.
Your home’s current is 100 or 200 amps, and the correct voltage is 240v. So, power surges occur when the flow of voltage and current into your home increases beyond these amounts. Power surges can be caused by lightning, transformer malfunctions, shorts in the electrical infrastructure, or when the system comes back on after an outage. These problems are all out of your control.
When power surges occur, the excess voltage can fry your appliances, and excess current appears in the form of heat, which can melt your wires and cords. This is why installing a power surge protector is an affordable and vital home protection option.
How does a surge protector work?
A whole-home surge protector is a device installed on your electrical panel near your main breaker. Because of this arrangement, the protector takes the hit when a surge comes down the line. It takes the damage and halts the power flow from getting through to the rest of your home’s electrical system.
Electrical surge protectors can protect against most surges, but unfortunately, they have limitations. In the case of a lightning strike, there is virtually no way to protect your system. Lighting typically contains 300 million volts and 30,000 amps, which will fry anything and everything.
How much does a surge protector installation cost?
The price of installing a surge protector can vary. Multiple factors impact the price, including the unit, making space in your electrical panel, and hardwiring it into your panel.
It is worth it, though, considering the alternative of spending potentially tens of thousands of dollars replacing anything plugged in during a surge, including TVs, fridges, ovens, computers, video game systems, and washers and dryers. A surge could result in tearing down walls to access and replace melted and damaged wiring. What a nightmare.
If you are ready to protect your home as best as possible from electrical surges, give us a call or fill out the form below to get started. We look forward to working together!
