What comes to your mind when you hear the phrase
‘Surge Protection’? Way too technical and boring for you? Or is it something
really supercool that is actually very useful for lovely abode? Have you ever
found yourself in a situation when after a bad weather situation, all the
circuit boards, electronic devices have been destroyed completely or stopped
functioning properly?
Yes, then the
remedy to all such problems has arrived. The whole house surge protector or
suppressor, an advanced version of commonly used plug-in surge suppressor, is a
device which protects all your electronic gadgets from moderate to intense
power surges. It
lets in only the electricity your household needs and not the uncontrollable
over-voltages, as a result, shielding your electronic gadgets and appliances
from any issue that can befall from those unregulated surges inside the house.
Also, with changing technologies, now there are more
electronic devices than ever with a complex working mechanism that require the
right amount of electric current that can pass through them for them to
function the way we want them to. One would also require them to last as long
as they can and live up to their name. All this is only possible when we have
the right devices to protect them and ourselves too. Hence, it is rightfully
said that homes need a whole house surge protection system now more than ever
Whole-house surge protectors or protective devices
(SPDs) are classically wired to the electric service box also known as the Main
Circuit Board (MCB) and positioned adjacent to it so as to safeguard all the utilities
and electrical systems inside the house. Although they may cost you less
than 100 bucks (100 USD), the installation charges might surpass the price of
the product itself placing it a bit higher on market pricing scale. You’re
looking at a fairly major expense anyway if you plan on buying a quality
plug-in surge suppressor (that will essentially offer a decent extent of
protection against power flows )as it will cost at least $30, and obviously you
may need quite a few of them.
If the plug in surge suppressors in your homes right
now have been in usage or experimentation through even one lightning-filled season,
they are perhaps doing very little other than giving you a fabricated sense of
safety. Since replacing malfunctioning surge suppressors can be rather
expensive, it is best recommended that you get the whole house surge protector
installed.
Unlike many of the surge suppression strips that use a
thin layer of metal oxide varistors (MOVs), whole house surge protectors are
modelled in such a way that they can resist large power surges and can also
last longer. Many
proprietors and owners believe that acceptable surge defense commences and
finishes with plugging their PC, Refrigerator or microwave into a power strip. Unluckily,
that's rarely the case. To begin with, not all surge guards deliver as per
expected. Some of them are merely overestimated extension cables. Secondly, a
surge might follow any random wire into a house and threaten modems and landline
phones, televisions etc. And third subtle electronic circuit board has thrived all
the way through our homes, leaving common machines as exposed as PCs to the repercussions
of surges.
Thus, Power Strip affords rudimentary
protection for numerous devices whereas, Surge Station shields telephone
lines and coaxial cable, besides plug-in devices.
Basically, you need to protect your houses form two
types of surges – an enormously strong power surge that may last for less than
a fraction of a second but it carries tens and thousandths of voltage; the
other yet more dangerous one is the lightning induced surges that are more
powerful and destructive. Both of these surges can are strong enough to fry
circuit boards and ruin home appliances.
What
would be the best way out?
Guarding against all kinds of surges requires a
two-tiered approach: a whole-house surge protector to pacify the giant,
hazardous power splurges and a separable single circuit also known as the
plug-in surge suppressor for susceptible appliances and electric devices. Both
of these fundamentally act like pressure-relief regulators. Normally they just
allow electric current to pass through them. But as the electric current begins
to exceed the standard value, the suppressors immediately avert surplus voltage
to the ground wire. It is also commonly believed that the best ones respond in
less than a nanosecond.) As soon as power intensities come back to usual units,
the movement of electricity is reestablished, unless the surge was powerful
enough to damage the suppressor itself.
Usually, the whole-house surge suppressors are
hard-wired to the main electrical circuit board. Whole-house systems should be designed
in such a way that they can easily stop a 40,000-amp surge, at least. Isolated and
minor whole-house units are recommended for the phone and cable lines but they
can be easily be replaced with Plug in suppressors that protect answering
machines, PCs and modems.
Whole-house suppressors can't stop all kinds of surges
completely by themselves. About 15 percent of leftover voltage may escape.
That's where plug-in surge suppressors come into the fore.
Most plug-in models are classified into three categories:
the acquainted multi-outlet power band; the multitasking surge station that can
handle phone and cable jacks and the UPS which provides an uninterrupted power
supply and completely soils electric power of random fluctuations. It also
provides battery backup during a power outage
Statistically speaking, homes that are safeguarded by
a whole house surge suppressor rarely withstand damage to those items during lightning
storms or major power surges.
One of the latest models that has become very popular
with many households is the Siemens Model. It has a “three layered” defense
system that facilitates it to divert all surges, both major and minor. It also
has a built in digital notification system which can be connected to your
mobile phones.
Now that you’ve fairly understood the pros and cons of
the various surge protectors and also have an idea about the right
protection unit, it’s time for installation. It is always recommended that
you have a specialized electrician
mount any surge protector, regardless of the simplicity associated with
it. Because there are high voltages involved even with fitting a unit like this
into your main circuit board, and there can be severe penalties and harms to your home, or even death.
Stay Alert, Stay Safe!
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