A power surge can cause major damage to your home, but fortunately, there are steps you can take to protect yourself. The professional electrician Christchurch city can provide you with the best tips when it comes to providing power surge protection tips. In this article, we’ll outline everything you need to know about power surges and how to stop them in their tracks.
How to Protect Yourself from a Power Surge
A power surge is a sudden increase in voltage. It can be caused by lightning, an electrical fault, or other types of events. Power surges can damage sensitive electronic equipment such as televisions, computers and even power supplies for your home.
Power surges also cause damage to appliances and personal electronics like cellphones, laptops and gaming consoles. You should protect yourself from power surges by installing surge protection devices in your home’s electrical system. There are two main types of these devices: whole house surge protectors and point-of-use (POU) panels located on the individual outlets you use most often around the house.
Whole House Surge Protectors: Whole house surge protectors are installed at the main service panel level (also known as garage door opener panels), where they act like filters that prevent spikes in voltage before they reach downstream circuits throughout your entire home
What Kind of Power Strips Should You Use?
Power strips are a great way to add more outlets, but they can pose safety risks if you don’t consider their design. You should look for power strips that have:
- The right number of outlets. Most people need at least three or four outlets on their power strip, but it depends on the number of devices they want to plug in at once. For example, some people might only need two outlets for small appliances like an air conditioner or humidifier. Other people may need six or more for a large appliance like a refrigerator with several settings and lights that require different voltages of electricity at different times—but only if you’re going to be using those appliances simultaneously!
- A built-in circuit breaker. Your surge protector should also have an internal circuit breaker (or “GFCI” outlet), which will trip if there’s too much energy flowing through it and prevent any fire hazards from occurring! If this doesn’t happen immediately after tripping itself, though, then it means something else has gone wrong with your system, so call us immediately!
Do You Need a Surge Protector for Your TV?
Your television is a large investment, and you want to take care of it. This means protecting it from power surges, which can happen when lightning strikes near your home or in the form of brownouts that have been happening more frequently as a result of drought.
When looking for a surge protector, look for one that has an energy rating of at least 400 joules. A 300-joule rating is a sufficient protection, but higher ratings will allow more leeway if there are multiple surges in the same area at the same time and reduce wear on your electronics during an actual power outage.
Avoid buying cheaply made models or ones with only two outlets because most devices will need several outlets spaced apart, so they don’t block each other’s cords and interfere with their functionality. You should also avoid purchasing models with “universal” plugs (like those designed for European appliances) since these tend not to fit properly into American outlets anyway.
When Should You Call an Electrician for Your Home’s Electrical Wiring?
If you notice flickering lights, slow-to-respond appliances, or if your home’s electrical system has been damaged by water or fire, an electrician Christchurch can help. They can also help with the following:
- Replacing old wiring. Wiring becomes outdated over time and needs to be replaced with new wiring that meets current safety standards. If you need to replace old wiring in your home, call a trusted local electrician for assistance.
- Installing new wiring. If you plan on doing some remodelling or adding on to your home, it is critical that the work is done properly and safely so that there are no issues down the road that could cause damage to your family members or pets as well as property damage resulting from electrocution due to faulty equipment (such as a faulty outlet). Make sure you hire someone who knows how to install electrical systems correctly!
Conclusion
In this post, we reviewed the importance of power surge protection for your home’s sensitive electronics. We also covered the ways that a local electrician Christchurch can help you protect yourself from surges. Did you find this information helpful? If you have any questions about power surge protection or other electrical issues, reach out to our team today!