Surge Protection

Is it any wonder why surge protection is getting a closer look from discerning home owners today? Whole house automation is widely becoming the standard for today's homes as well as electronic appliances.

With the ability to integrate nearly every function of your home from lights to mechanical systems homeowners are looking for protection.

Lightening strikes, power grid glitches from your local electric company and electrical abnormalities in your homes’ electrical system can all create surges with devastating results.

Minimum Level of Protection

For most, surge protection is a visit to your local hardware store or home center to pick up a plug in surge power strip (known as a point of use device).

But in reality, if you have spent a lot on equipment you might want to be thinking about whole house surge suppression systems.

Power surges (technical term: transient voltage surges) are an increase or spike in voltage way above the normal level in a flow of electricity. Unfortunately, the surges can vary in strength and duration making them difficult to defend against.

Being that a surge suppressor is your first line of defense, one should assess the amount of electrical equipment and appliances at risk and then determine the proper level of protection.

Second Layer of Protection

Above the level of a simple plug in point of use surge protector, the next easiest install and cost affective solution is to install a protection device directly into the electrical panel.

This will assist in intercepting spikes at the source.

The problem with this type of protection is that it does not fully protect equipment or appliances hooked up to phone or cable lines.

So adding point of use devices at the locations of expensive tvs, appliances and computer equipment will add another layer of protection.

Third Layer of Protection

The next level of protection is a whole house system that is professionally designed to protect the entire house.

This type of system can range in price from 2000 and up but can be well worth the investment if you have a large amount of money invested in appliances and other equipment.

This can be installed by a contractor or your power company. These type of systems will generally come with some form of warranty.

Final Layer of Protection

Although all of these are protection against power surges, it will not necessarily protect against lightening strikes.

If properly grounded, it will probably handle lightening that strikes in the distance, for a direct strike, a lightening protection system is the best protection that can be installed.

Work with your electrician to make sure your property is properly grounded.