My Healthy Environment

Although many of us ignore the inherent dangers, it’s risky to use consumer electronics in a lightning storm. The temptation is understandably strong – after all, what else can we do on a miserable rainy day when no one in their right mind would go outside? Lightning storms pose a problem for laptops, desktop computers stereo systems and other electronics because they often cause voltage spikes.

A voltage spike, also known as a power surge, is a sharp blast of extra current in an electrical circuit. These spikes can cause fuses to blow, circuits to trip and computers to fry. There are devices available that offer power surge protection by regulating the voltage supplied to electrical devices from external sources such as an AC outlet. Surge protectors are essential when you’re homebound during a lightning storm.

Have you ever had a power surge destroy or damage any appliances or electronic devices in your home? Chances are that at some time in everyone’s lifetime, they will experience this and it can be quite expensive at times.

Just a week ago, I was visiting a relative in South Dakota on a Ranch, and they were telling me about a power surge caused by lightning that took out three electronic devices in their home just the previous week. If only they had installed a whole house surge protection device, the electronic devices would not have been damaged and need to be replaced.

There are several surge protection devices on the market today that provide protection for the home. Most of us are aware of the devices that we use to protect out computers etc. , but few home owners know about the whole house surge protection devices. At a modest cost of about $200 to $1000 plus the cost of installation, it is cheap protection.

Some of these whole house surge protectors are combined with other features such as Electrical Noise Filtration and or Power Factor Optimization. These devices have added value and may be worth looking into for the extra features that they provide. Electrical Noise is detrimental to our computers and plasma tv’s and shortens their life span while power factor optimization can save a significant amount of money on your electric bill each month.

So again I ask the question, have you ever had a power surge destroy or damage any of your appliances in your home? Now you can have the protection that you want with  whole house surge protection, [some companies even give you a guarantee], and not have to worry about the next time an electrical storm comes through.