Most people don’t consider the dangers or threats to their electrical system that exist at all times. While your plumbing could experience something like a burst pipe that damages your home or your heating and cooling could have a blowout that leaves you stuck without their services, your electrical system could experience a surge. Power surges are a sudden, sharp increase in voltage and amperage flowing through the lines in your home, usually caused by a sudden burst in power from an external force.
Surges can be particularly devastating: they can fry circuit breakers, damage panels, melt wiring, burn shielding around wires, ruin outlets and switches, and even destroy anything that’s plugged in at the time one happens. And it does so indiscriminately as well: that thousand-dollar television, computer, and even your heating and cooling system can all be destroyed or at least damaged to the point where they require significant repairs almost instantaneously by a power surge.
Fortunately, there are ways you can fight back against a power surge and protect your home from it: a whole-home surge protection system. These systems are sort of like a giant fuse for your home—when they detect too much current or voltage flowing through them, they trip and cut off the circuit that makes power flow through your home. In doing so, they stop the voltage and current flow, potentially saving you thousands in repairs. For that reason alone, it’s a brilliant idea for any homeowner to invest in one of these devices.
Sources of Power Surges
Fortunately, power surges are exceedingly rare. They’re not something you should expect to experience at any point in your life, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t something you should prepare for. All it takes is an instant and suddenly a surge can cripple your entire electrical system. The first step to preparation is to know what causes a power surge.
The most common source of a power surge is not something we see a lot of here in California: a lightning strike. In the Midwest, where lightning strikes are far more common due to different weather patterns, a lightning strike on a rooftop can send millions of volts surging throughout a home, resulting in catastrophic damage that can even spark fires. While lightning strikes are far less common here in California, they can and do still happen on occasion. A surge protection system can keep your electrical system protected in the event this happens.
Instead, the most common source for power surges that we see here in California is surges from the main electrical grid, usually due to things like aging infrastructure, lack of maintenance, high temperatures, and extremely heavy demand. All it takes is a malfunction in the wrong place and suddenly a ton of voltage is flowing through your electrical lines. These are the most common in summer when everyone and every business has their air conditioner turned on and running full-blast. Likewise, when winds are blowing and scorching heat continues to bake the land, power surges become even more probable. This has prompted a few utility providers across the state to start implementing policies whereby they shut off power in extremely high-fire conditions. This not only helps prevent some of the wildfires which have devastated the state over the last few years, but also helps to avoid the possibility of a power surge causing immense damage to your home.
If you’re interested in installing whole-home surge protection and keeping your home and your property protected from the unexpected, call All Pro Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electrical at (909) 500-8193 now!