What You Need To Know About Surge Protection

Every homeowner has to make sure that their houses have enough surge protection, so you must ask your electrician regarding surge protectors in case your home doesn’t have enough surge protection equipment. If you have a surge protector, you will be able to plug several devices and appliances into a single power outlet without the risk of running into an electrical problem.

What is a power surge?

A transient voltage or a power surge happens when the voltage rises significantly above the appropriate level, which is normally set at 120 volts for houses in the U.S. Voltage measures the difference in electrical potential energy as electric current moves from one end of the wire to another.

Your electrician Columbia will discuss about surges and spikes. A spike happens when the voltage rises for less than 2 nanoseconds while a surge happens when the voltage rises for 3 nanoseconds at most. Faulty wiring, downed power lines, lightning strikes, and using high power electrical devices and power appliances can lead to power surges. It could also be caused by the equipment of your utility company.

Why do you need surge protection?

Surge protection will help prevent damage to your electrical appliances or devices by stopping power surges. Surges could burn electrical wires and destroy your appliances and devices, or at the very least, decrease their lifespan. Surge protectors will redirect the excess electrical current to a grounding wire, thereby preventing damages.

Homeowners often buy surge protectors such as metal oxide varistors or gas discharge arrestors. The latter are gas tubes that use inert gas as the conductor between the ground line and the hot line to redirect the electrical current. Meanwhile, metal oxide varistors will active once excess voltage happens and divert the surge without having to block the current to power appliances and devices.

Your electrical contractor will suggest a surge protector with that has less than one nanosecond response time since surge protectors have a bit of delays before they could divert a surge. You will have excellent protection against power surges by having surge protectors with short response times.

In case you suspect that your home does not have enough surge protection, call CHS Electricians Columbia now.

CHS Electricians Columbia
4100 Loquat Drive
Columbia SC 29205
(803) 973-7324
http://electricianscolumbiasc.com