While heating and cooling are commonly considered when you think about ensuring the safety and comfort of your home, many homeowners in Broomfield, CO and surrounding communities don’t often stop to think about certain aspects of their electrical systems. Consider that in addition to living in a region that frequently experiences lightning strikes during the summer, an occurrence known as an electrical power surge can come from many different sources, including inside your home. It’s not just a summertime, lightning season concern, and a significant power surge could easily put many of your valuable electrical home appliances and devices in harm’s way.
The solution that checks all boxes best for concerned homeowners is a whole-house electrical surge protector. Broomfield residents can turn to our experienced, skilled electrical team at Save Home Heat Company for reliable, professional advice, recommendations, and installation of quality whole-house surge protection devices.
Why You Should Consider a Power Surge Protector
Like everyone in the Denver-Boulder area, Broomfield homeowners are no strangers to lightning storms during the summer. Living in an area where extreme weather can be common, a whole-home surge protector can be a wise investment and may be worth considering. These popular electrical devices provide a level of electrical protection for your home beyond your electrical service panel, circuit breakers, and any portable surge strips you may be using.
When an electrical surge occurs, depending on the magnitude, excessive electricity can run through a home’s wiring and devices, potentially causing damage in a variety of ways, including to appliances plugged into or hardwired into the electrical circuit, or circuits that are affected. Depending on the nature of the surge, a properly specified, professionally installed whole-home surge protector can help minimize or entirely avoid costly damage. Just think for a moment about the many ‘smart’ devices and appliances that inhabit our homes.
While most homeowners usually associate electrical surges with lightning storms, surges are frequently associated with many other sources, and are experienced on a year-round basis. There may be more risk than you think.
Common External Sources of Electrical Surges:
- Downed or damaged utility lines
- Utility grid transfers
- Intentional power outages
- Lightning strikes*
*There is no reliable protection against a direct lightning strike.
Internal Sources of Electrical Surges Include:
- High electrical draw appliances such as refrigerators, dryers, AC compressors, furnace fans, shop tools, and garage openers – turning on & off
- Damaged wiring
- Overloaded outlets
Electrical symptoms that could possibly point in the direction of internal electrical surges include dimming of lights when an appliance turns on, regular tripping of circuit breakers, discolored electrical outlets, or a humming sound from the main panel.
If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, we recommend calling your trusted electrician asap. In the Denver-Boulder area, Save Home Heat is ready to answer that call.
How Do Power Surge Protectors Work?
Many insurance industry sources estimate that the typical family has at least $15,000 worth of electrical items in their home. We don’t know if this is a conservative number, but this includes everything from your AC system and furnace, to your refrigerator, washer and dryer, computers, sound system, coffee maker, and much more. Consider the damage that one major electrical power surge in your home could potentially wreak and it might make sense to learn more about whole-home surge protectors.
Essentially and put simply, a whole-home surge protector helps safeguard your home and your electrical products by detecting and diverting excessive electrical current away from your home and electrical system and into the ground away from the house through your electrical system’s substantial ground wire. This is done regardless of whether the source of the surge is external to or inside of your home.
What Is a Whole Home Surge Protector?
Good quality power strip types of surge protectors provide a basic level of surge protection, but there are many cases when that’s simply not sufficient. In addition, don’t forget that many electrical products in your home, such as a refrigerator recessed between cupboards in the kitchen, cannot normally plug into those types of surge strips. In either case, a whole-house surge protector provides an additional, even greater level of electrical protection for all the electricity-consuming items in your home. This could be the difference between costly damage or just having to reset breakers.
A whole-house surge protector is a compact electrical device that installs close by, or is attached to your home’s main electrical panel. The surge protector is installed so that when an electrical current surge comes from either an external or internal source, the excessive current is directed away from the home, ‘to ground.’
Whole home surge protectors are classified as Type 2 electrical devices, which means that they are permanently connected to the service panel. For even greater electrical surge protection, surge protectors can also be installed to safeguard specific appliances or circuits. Used together with a whole-home surge protector, this double-pronged approach provides the ultimate in surge protection.
Your Trusted Team for Reliable Power Surge Protectors in Broomfield
If now is the right time to consider enhancing electrical protection for you and your home with the installation of a quality, whole-house electrical surge protector, Broomfield homeowners can turn to our electrical team at Save Home Heat for trusted, expert electrical advice that is squarely focused on your best interests. We’ll listen carefully to your input and present the solutions that we feel are the best match for you. You can count on our team to do our best to exceed your expectations whenever you give us the opportunity to work in your home.
For more information about whole-house power surge protectors or to receive a low-pressure quote to have a quality surge protector installed, please contact our friendly, helpful staff at Save Home Heat Company today.
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