Are you sick of having to replace lightbulbs, microwave ovens, and even much larger appliances sooner than you’d expect? Chances are high that you are, in fact, replacing many of your electronic systems sooner than you should—if you don’t have proper surge protection. Surge protection is an important step in protecting a home’s most important electronic devices, and yet many of us don’t realize its true benefits.
We want to help you protect many of your home’s systems. What’s most important in Florida is keeping your air conditioner safe, and a surge from a storm—or, more likely, from everyday events—can quickly or slowly destroy the equipment. Read on to find out why you should consider reinforcing surge protection in your home.
Storms Lead to Serious Surges
An electrical surge could cause damage to the systems and appliances you rely on every day. Most people associate a power surge with a storm. And it is certainly possible for a lightning storm to create a power surge that knocks out power to all of your electrical equipment at once. This could also happen due to a downed power line or a similar event from the utility. However, we want to emphasize that this is not the way a conventional surge occurs.
Surges Happen Even When There Is No Storm
80% of power surges are generated within the home on a small scale, every single day. That means lightning really isn’t your biggest danger. You probably won’t know when a power surge starts to slowly affect your equipment. A motor starting up can pull in a lot of amps, and that overvoltage can send a surge back through some of the equipment in your home.
That doesn’t mean you should only put surge protection at the appliances that pull in a lot of amps. Even if the air conditioner has surge protection, the system itself can send a surge back to the other appliances in the home that are not protected.
You end up having to replace all kinds of systems throughout your home months, or even years earlier than you should have to, which means a much lower return on investment than expected. Urgent air conditioning replacements, most importantly, can be easily avoided with the proper surge protection.
Surge Solutions
It’s important to note that a power strip may not necessarily provide the protection you need. First, many of your most important appliances are wired into the home, not attached to a power strip. Secondly, while surge protector power strips are a good idea, not all power strips are surge protectors. Be sure to read the labels when you purchase them!
The best kind of surge protection for a home requires a two-layer defense. You have power strips for the systems that need them (which also offers a convenient way to save energy and turn off things you aren’t using). Most importantly, you should have whole-house surge protection as well. You’ll need an electrician to do this for you, but having whole-house surge protection means your systems are safer, and so are you.
Air On Demand installs and services central air conditioners in Miami, FL. Contact us for honest upfront pricing!