Keeping Your Home Safe with Surge Protection

It’s impossible to get by without electrical devices in the modern world, and most people have come to rely on their smartphones, televisions and computers. You likely have a lot of these devices in your home, and if you’re anything like the average person, they probably get used a lot.

Considering how much we use them, it’s no surprise that most people take good care of their electronics. However, while you might be careful not to drop them or spill liquids on them, there’s another danger to your electronics that you might not be aware of.

Voltage Surges

A voltage surge is essentially a sudden increase in the amount of volts within your power system. In UK homes, the standard level of volts is 230, but in rare cases, this might increase without warning. These surges can reach as high as 6000 volts, and although they last just a few microseconds, it can still be enough to cause damage.

There are lots of reasons why a surge might occur, including faults in wiring or equipment, capacitor loading or even lightning strikes. You can experience external and internal surges, which will either affect just your home or lots of other homes that are part of the same grid. Homes can stay safe by using power surge protection from RS, including plugs and sockets.

The power surges, which are transient overvoltage disturbances or spikes, can deteriorate, damage, or destroy electronic equipment in an industrial or manufacturing facility, as well as in a household or commercial building. Their amplitudes can reach tens of thousands of volts. Equipment failures in electronics and computers are frequently caused by surges.

In most cases, low-level surges won’t immediately harm electrical components by melting them or blowing fuses. However, they’ll still gradually deteriorate them until they fail entirely. On the other hand, higher power surges can result in fuse, semiconductor, resistor, and capacitor explosions, severely damaging appliances and potentially leading to fires.

Protecting Your Home from Surges

While power surges are typically rare, they can be very serious. Most surges tend to increase the level by five to ten volts, and while this may not cause severe damage straight away, it can still lead to your electronics degrading over time. This may result in your appliances breaking down or losing valuable data.

Serious surges can result in your devices overheating and causing a fire risk, so it’s especially important to ensure you have protection in place. Thankfully, it’s relatively easy to protect your devices and home from power surges. All you really need are surge protectors, also known as surge protective devices.

Surge protectors are devices which can be found in special plugs and sockets. They operate pretty simply, diverting the excess voltage away from the device to a grounded route. It consumes no power when not in use, but when a power surge occurs, it senses the increase and reduces it to a harmless amount.

You can fit surge protector plugs and sockets separately, but it may also be a good idea to speak to an electrician about a whole-house install. They can install a voltage surge protection system to the main electrical panel of your house. This will protect all of the circuits in your house from power surges, and not just those that use a power surge protected socket or plug.

Final Thoughts

If you have electronics in your home, it’s important to know the risks and dangers of power surges. While large surges may be rare, they present a serious problem, and even low-level surges can damage your appliances and devices over time. You can easily protect your home with surge protection devices, but consult an electrician if you want to install it across your entire house.