Both Tennessee and Kentucky’s southern locations put them in a position to experience some nasty thunderstorms, mainly throughout the hot summer months. One unfortunate result of these storms is power surges and outages. To protect your home’s electrical system and appliances, you may want to consider investing in a whole-home surge protection device.
What Is a Surge Protector?
Surge protectors, also known as surge suppressors, are electronic devices that absorb and divert excess power to a safe grounding location. They are ideal for protecting other electrical devices, circuits, appliances, and electrical components from damage caused by an overload of power.
Whole-Home Surge Protector vs. Power Strip
Most people are most familiar with surge protectors in the form of power strips. These strips offer multiple outlets that all plug into a central box, where one power cord is plugged into an existing outlet in your home. For example, a power strip can plug in your television, gaming system, speakers, and even a phone charger. While power strips can be great for protecting these items from internal power surges due to defective devices, they’re not the most effective for large power surges.
This is where the whole-home surge protector comes into play. Instead of requiring you to use multiple power strips throughout your home to protect your appliances and electronics, a whole-home model offers protection for your home’s entire electrical system. Most whole-home surge protectors are placed in your electrical panel box and connected to the main incoming power line. Whenever a power surge rips through the power line, your surge protector will automatically sense it and redirect the excess current to the grounding rods at your home for safe dispersion.
Protect Your Appliances
Undoubtedly, appliances seem to get more expensive as the years go by. It can be scary to add up the total cost of replacing all the appliances inside your home. Unfortunately, if your appliances aren’t protected from power surges, they could be fatally damaged when one does happen. The worst part is that you’ll be stuck paying out of pocket to purchase a new one quickly, especially when it comes to appliances like your refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, wash and dryer.
Minimizes Electrical Hazards
While you may not want to think about it, electrical hazards can happen at the worst of times. For example, a power surge may blaze through your home’s electrical system and cause some wiring or an outlet to catch fire due to the excess power overload. One of the best ways to protect your home from these electrical hazards is by installing a whole-home surge protector to reduce the possibility of overloading your home’s electrical items.
Protect Your Home’s Electrical System
A whole-home surge protector protects all the items plugged into the various outlets throughout your home. This includes your outlets, light switches, lighting fixtures, wiring, panel box, and so forth. You won’t have to stress whenever a storm blows through your area, as you’ll know your home’s entire electrical system will be adequately protected from harm.
Exceedingly Convenient
Another advantage of a whole-home surge protector is its reasonably convenient way of protecting your home from harm. Instead of wasting your time and energy using a multitude of power strips to protect your appliances and electrical devices, you can invest in one whole-home surge protector to take care of everything electrical.
Choosing an Appropriate Surge Protector for Your Home
If you’ve determined that a whole-home surge protector is an excellent investment for your home, there are a few key things you’ll want to know when finding the right one. First, all surge protectors have a joule rating that showcases how much energy they can absorb. Aim for a joule rating of between 1,000 and 2,000 for optimal coverage. Additionally, consider a smart unit that will notify you if your unit is malfunctioning. This will allow you to respond quickly to remedy the problem.
Reliable Surge Protection Service
E&W Electrical Solutions offers reliable surge protection services to the Paris, TN community. We can also help with all your commercial, generator, green energy, EV charging, electrical panel, and electrical repair services. Give us a call today to book your next service consultation.
