Protect What Matters!!

If you’re like most Americans, you’re aware of the dangers lightning poses if an unexpected summer storm suddenly catches you outside. Getting to shelter is your top priority. However, lightning can hit you while you’re protected by walls. Even if you aren’t hit directly, lightning can do severe damage to your appliances and your home itself.

As we steadily scoot into a late spring you’ll notice storms and heavy rains are on the rise. And as summer approaches the frequency and intensity continues. Most homes are equipped to deal with this, of course. Your siding is probably sturdy, roof is in good shape—you might even have custom drainage systems in place. But how’s your electrical system? Is it as ready as the rest of your home?

Why Do I Need Electrical Protection?

The risks during a storm primarily come from, as you probably expect, lightning strikes. But it doesn’t take a full-fledged direct hit to potentially fry electronics in your home. Electrical storms and lightning can create a considerable amount of charge in the air. This can result in either full strikes, or it can discharge in smaller batches. But even these small micro-strikes can cause a power surge in your home, leading to damage to your electronics.

Electrical protection systems serve multiple purposes that all work together to keep you and your home and possessions secure. Surge protectors lie mostly dormant, quietly monitoring your circuits until a problem crops up. But don’t worry—installing a whole house surge protector can help protect your equipment.

Why didn’t my surge protector help?

Of course, you’re protective of your computer and electronics. You keep them plugged into power strips with surge protectors, so they stay safe. So how can this happen to you?

There are two reasons your surge protector might not be of any use to you in a lightning storm.

Firstly, your surge protector just isn’t meant to handle that big of a surge. Most of the power surges you encounter on a daily basis are tiny – so tiny, in fact, that you don’t notice them. That’s your surge protector, doing its job. But a lightning strike produces a power surge that dwarfs normal surges by orders of magnitude. If it’s distant enough, most of that current has dissipated before it reaches your house, putting you in significantly less danger. But a nearby lightning strike can hit you with the full force of the current.

Secondly, your surge protector has a component inside of it called a varistor. The varistor is, essentially, what makes a surge protector a surge protector. What many people don’t realize, though, is that the varistor degrades over time. Every time it takes care of a little power surge, it gets a little older and weaker. Eventually, it stops being able to protect you at all.

For more information call Radco Electric 678-895-2775