Whole-House Surge Protectors
If you walk through your Mint Hill, NC, home right now, you’ll easily spot at least a
couple of surge protector strips that you’ve plugged various appliances and electronics into. A common myth is that these outlet surge protectors effectively prevent your electronics from getting fried during the next storm.
Unfortunately, this is frequently not the case. Whether your house gets hit with a lightning strike, a power surge from the grid, or (most commonly) a power surge from within your home, standard surge protectors don’t offer much protection. Not only can they burn out relatively quickly, but they also cannot regulate large power surges well, if at all.
Instead, the solution is to install a whole-house surge protector. These devices can prevent surges from within your home and protect your appliances and electronics from surges that come into your home through the breaker box.
Getting the Right Whole-House Surge Protector
Whole-house surge protectors come with a variety of features, so it’s essential to get a recommendation from an electrical contractor about which one is best for your home’s needs. For the average home, you’ll want a whole-house surge protector that can stop at least a 40,000 amp surge.
Other features to consider are warnings when a device has taken a hit, such as an alarm or light. That way, if a surge does pass through your Mint Hill, NC, home, you’ll know if it caused any damage and can react accordingly.
One piece of information an electrical contractor may share with you is that a whole-house surge protector still doesn’t offer 100% protection. For this reason, it’s still a good idea to keep your plug-in surge protectors as they can still add a line of defense against high voltage.
Benefits of a Whole-House Surge Protector
The benefits of having a whole-house surge protector range from prevention to protection. When we think of homes vulnerable to electrical issues, we usually think of older homes built many decades ago. And while this may be true to an extent, even newly constructed homes are susceptible to issues like electrical surges.
Prevent Internal Surges
One reason surges happen in homes is because we use so many electronic devices. At any given moment, a house could easily have the following devices plugged in and using energy:
- TV
- Sound system
- Gaming consoles
- Laptops
- Cell phones
- refrigerator/freezer
- Electric oven
- Microwave
- Washer
- Dryer
- Dishwasher
- Hair Dryer/curler/straightener
If all of these devices need to pull energy from the grid at once, it can quickly cause breaks in the breaker box, which will ultimately cause a surge in power. In fact, somewhere between 60% and 80% of surges happen from within the home.
These small surges may not seem like a big problem. Still, over time they negatively affect your electronics, causing a shorter lifespan or sometimes a total burnout much sooner than expected. With a whole-house surge protector, these internal cuts in power, no matter how small or frequent, can protect all your home’s devices from needing replacement.
Protect Against External Surges
While not as frequent, surges from outside your home can be much more powerful and more damaging than internal surges. For example, your home is vulnerable to external surges from:
- Downed power lines
- Issues with the utility company’s transformers, lines, and other parts
- Surges from the grid
- Lightning strikes
Even though homes do get struck by lightning, this is a rare reason for a power surge. However, it’s still essential to prevent any of these external issues from affecting your home. Having a whole-house surge protector will stop these power surges from entering your electrical system and keep your appliances and devices safe.
It’s important to note that whole-house surge protectors also keep you and your family safe, not just your electrical devices. If a power surge is large enough, it can pass through your entire home and generate live electricity that could pass onto people who touch exposed wires or metal. By installing a whole-home surge protector, the likelihood of such an occurrence is much lower.
Find an Electrician Near Me
If you’re ready to install a whole-house surge protector, leave it to the professionals at GB Electrical Services. We have the experience and know-how to properly install the right whole-house surge protector in just a couple of hours. Plus, we offer our Mint Hill, NC, residents flexible payment plans to get the protection they need without worrying about the upfront cost. Contact us for more details and a free quote.
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