Surge Protection

Electrical surges happen everyday and are bad news for your sensitive electrical equipment.  Electrical surges are spikes in the voltage coming into to your homes electrical system. A normal home has around 120v on its regular household outlets. During spikes these voltage can jump up to several hundred volts. Spikes are caused by irregularities with the power grid, problems with local transmission lines or transformers, or lightening strikes. Lightening strikes can increase the voltage on your home’s outlets to several thousand volts and destroy thousands of dollars worth of equipment in a split second.  Spikes from the power company are generally less noticeable and can be the silent killer. How often do you have a appliance that quits for no apparent reason. Often its the result of years of small surges from the power company grid. In fact, often our electrical inspections of homes in Roswell reveal voltage higher than the target 120V.

The solution to surges is surge protection.  A surge protection is a passive device that is attached to your electrical system. When there is a surge the devices recognizes the increase in voltage and diverts it safely to your homes grounding system and ultimately to the earth (Note:  a proper electrical grounding system is crucial). Generally, these devices can be installed inside important appliances, in power strips, and whole house surge protectors at the electrical panel.  All surge protection is important because its hard to predict the path a lightening strike will take through your home and each type has complimenting advantages. Large whole house surge protection handles the day to day surges and is there in case of major strikes. It also protects everything in the house even if you can’t put a plug-in surge protector on it (think dishwasher, AC unit, etc.). Plug-in surge protectors offer much less protection than whole house surge protectors but have the advantage of being the last defense in case of a major strike or stay voltage that “sneaks” around your main protection.

Its important to have your main surge protector installed by a licensed electrician from a reputable company so that your warranty is intact. Most good surge protectors come with a connected equipment warranty which is void if the protector was not installed by a licensed electrician.  Surge protection does not work without a proper grounding connection. That means that your electrical system should be inspected before installing the surge protector for proper grounding. Also, it means that the installation must be done properly.