Whole Home Surge Protection

Have you ever been sitting at home when all the lights and electronics flicked off and then back on? This event is called a power surge, and it can potentially damage or destroy your electronic devices. Fortunately, it is possible to prevent power surges – all it takes is a power surge protector from Colonial Electric! If your home is experiencing frequent power surges and you’re worried about the safety of your electronics and appliances, call Colonial Electric!

What is a power surge?

If you’re like most people, you’ve probably heard the term “power surge” but you may not know exactly what it means. A power surge is what occurs when the line voltage goes higher than normal (surges) and stays at the elevated level for more than 10 milliseconds. Power surges can be extremely damaging to any electronic device that has a microprocessor – from TVs and computers to microwaves, refrigerators, even blenders! Power surges are caused whenever motors are shut off, because the energy that the devices were consuming has to be redirected elsewhere.

The worst thing is, as time goes on many electronic devices are getting more and more sensitive to power surges. There are a lot of reasons for this – computer chips are more dense than they were even just a few years ago, making them more susceptible to damage; clock speeds for many electronic devices have gotten much faster, to the point where the almost instantaneous spikes in power may be interpreted as a command sequence, causing the processor to do something you don’t want it to do; power surges are becoming more and more common as the number of electronic devices in homes increases.

What can you do to prevent power surges?

The easiest way to prevent power surges is by installing a whole house surge protector in your home. Surge protectors work by absorbing a considerable portion of the electrical surge and diverting the rest into the ground. By doing so, they can significantly reduce the amount of destructive stray energy that gets to the rest of your electronics.

There are two types of surge protectors – point of use and whole house surge protectors. You probably already own at least a few point of use surge protectors – they plug directly into your wall and are designed to handle surges up to 6,000 volts.

Whole house surge protectors, on the other hand, will protect your home from power surges coming in from outside – not internally. Whole house surge protectors are installed at your electrical service entrance – the meter or the electrical panel. Whole house surge protectors should be installed to protect every wire in your home, including phone and cable lines – power surges can travel along any type of wiring.

If you want to install a whole house surge protector in your home, call Colonial Electric today!