Why Surge Protection Is a Smart Move for Your Home
You’re home on a stormy day, and the lights dim for a brief instant. You think all is well — until your microwave stops working, and your refrigerator starts emitting a strange sound. This is the harm that can occur after a power surge, a sudden spike in your electrical voltage. It may be due to lightning, a problem with the power company, or a big appliance cycling on and off. These voltage spikes may persist for just tens or hundreds of milliseconds, but their impact can be permanent.
How Surges Damage Appliances Over Time
Many of us think a surge either fries your appliance instantly, or it doesn’t. But here’s the thing: Small surges can eat into your appliances, day in and day out. Your washer could be fine for today, but if it’s suffered years of little surges, its hardware may be inoperable tomorrow.
Appliances in your home, like a dishwasher, computer, or television, all have circuit boards and other sensitive parts. These components were not meant to endure massive changes in voltage. After a little while, even relatively small spikes can wear them out, leading to expensive repairs or replacement.
What Surge Protection Does
Surge protection stops surplus voltage before it reaches your appliances. If you imagine your home power system as a series of roads, surge protection is a speed bump that slows down dangerous traffic before it crashes into your devices.
Some people use point-of-use surge protectors; those power strips you plug your TV or computer into serve as protection. The others are whole-home surge protectors, installed at your electrical panel and protecting your entire home. Either way, these tools absorb the shock so that your devices don’t have to.
If you need to replace a refrigerator, that can cost more than a thousand dollars. A new game console or desktop computer is not cheap, either. Surge protection is about more than avoiding catastrophe once. It also extends the life of your appliances, protecting them from everyday electrical wear and tear.
Instead of scratching your head over why your dryer went kaput after five years, you might have been using it a decade later — all because it had protection from things you couldn’t see. To a certain extent, surge protection is a vitamin regimen. It’s not that it feels amazing at that moment, but over time, you just notice the difference.
It’s Not Just for Electronics
Most people think surge protection is just for their computers or their TVs. But modern refrigerators, washing machines, HVAC systems and even ovens also have digital pieces. These devices require stable voltage to function correctly. If that connection is severed, you could have blinking error codes or discover that your warranty does not cover surge-related damage.
It’s frustrating to lose something that was supposed to be around. And with a basic surge protection system in place, you reduce the odds for those breakdowns — possibly by several years.
Surge protection is smart. It works quietly to protect your appliances from potential damage as well as ensuring that your home runs more smoothly. It’s easy to see how, for a meager initial investment, you can protect your household’s most indispensable tools for the long term. For surge protection for your Kailua-Kona, HI home, reach out to Big Island Electric.
