You have most likely experienced a few power surges during your lifetime. This is something that happens not too rarely and it is something every house owner have to deal with. Power surges can be very harmful to your home and electrical appliances, and they can be caused by many different factors. However, there are a few things you can do to prevent them.
What causes a power surges?
A power surge can be caused by a rapidly changing load within a circuit or an oversupply in voltage from various external sources. Here are some examples:
- Lightning – even if it isn’t a direct hit, lightning strikes can damage your house badly. A lightning that strikes a power or telephone line connected to your house will cause a surge, which can blow out your circuits, fry your electronics, or melt the plastic around wires and outlets.
- Appliances switching on and off – especially high-powered electrical devices, such as refrigerators, heaters and air conditioners.
- Faulty wiring – this will need to be replaced. Contact an Auckland electrician if you think you have a faulty wiring.
- Downed powerlines – storms are the most common cause of power outages, as trees often fall across powerlines. Downed powerlines can be extremely dangerous. If you see a broken powerline, don’t go near it or anything that may be touching it.
- Spikes and drops in incoming power from electrical repairs. A spike is a temporary, very short increase in the electrical supply voltage.
- Animals getting into electrical equipment – they often electrocute themselves at the same time.
The average home experiences about 20 power surges a day, and the majority of them are caused by switching on and off appliances, which alter the steady flow of electricity. A power surge can damage or even destroy your electrical appliances completely. Repeated power surges lead to a degraded quality of your devices over time. Sometimes a power surge can lead to an electrical fire, which can damage or even destroy the entire house.
Keep your home safe from power surges
There is nothing more important in life than your loved ones, and you don’t want anything bad to happen to them. Therefore, it’s important to ensure the safety of your family and yourself, as well as all your belongings. There are different ways you can protect your home against power surges.
- Invest in a whole-home surge protection device. A whole-home surge protection device is designed to let through surges that don’t reach a specified voltage. This means that they let through smaller, yet dangerous surges that can still harm sensitive devices.
- Install a surge arrestor to protect all electrical circuits in the house. This device is installed where the power comes into the house, and it protects your equipment from over-voltage caused by external or internal source.
- The best way to protect your home is to unplug all your appliances when you are not using them. This is also good from an energy perspective.
You can also protect specific electronics. You should always protect your sensitive devices by connecting them to point-of-use surge protectors. These protectors absorb voltage that gets past your whole-home surge protector. This kind of protector should be used to protect devices such as computers, televisions, stereo systems and media systems etc.
Don’t use the same power strip for delicate electronic devices and air-conditioners or printers. These appliances do not get along, and the appliances with a large electronic load will put your sensitive devices at risk as they can cause mini-surges.
Always make sure the electricity has somewhere to go. You should have wiring that guides the electricity away from your home.
Reach out to your Auckland Electrician for help
The installation of a surge protection device can be a bit challenging and should be done by an experienced electrician. Expert knowledge might be crucial for protecting your home. Get in touch with your domestic electrician Auckland to find out how you can protect your home from electrical surges. Besides that, we can help you with any kind of electrical maintenance across the North Shore region. Protect your home and get expert service from electrician Takapuna, electrician Glenfield or even electrician Milford. Submit the form online or give us a call at 0800 177 275, and someone from our friendly team of Auckland electricians will get back to you shortly. Also, see what areas we cover in Auckland.