3 Reasons You Might Want To Have A Residential Electrician Install A Whole House Surge Protector

You’ve probably heard of whole house surge protectors and wondered if they’re for you. After all, you’ve probably already got your most valuable electrical equipment on the plugged-in type of surge protector, so what additional coverage does a whole house one give you?

The problem with the plug-in type is that they have a limited life, and even after they’ve stopped protecting your equipment they still provide power, which means you have no way of knowing when they no longer work. So might you want to have an electrician install a whole house surge protector?

We’re creating the surges inside the house

Most of the surges that move through a house have nothing to do with outside sources. It’s not lighting or the power company that’s causing the surges, it’s our air conditioner, our refrigerator, our dryer, all sending surges back through the breaker box and to every item that’s plugged into your home. Now, this doesn’t fry your equipment outright, but it does shorten the life of everything that plugged in. This includes expensive things like televisions and computers, but also things you might not think about, like LED lightbulbs and alarm clocks.

You’ve got a lot plugged in

Many surge protectors aren’t rated to support the sheer amount of electronics you have plugged into them. Televisions, receivers, Blu Ray players, Roku and Apple TVs, XBox and Playstations…they’re all in the same place and most people will plug $5,000 worth of equipment into one $24.96 surge protector they bought at Wal-Mart (if they even bought a surge protector at all…power strips and surge protectors are NOT the same thing). These aren’t meant to protect against the surges we create.

Nothing’s gonna protect against lightning

No surge protector is going to protect against lightning. If lightning strikes your house, it’s pretty much over for most things that are plugged in. At that point you can look forward to having your insurance buy you new stuff! Of course, lighting hasn’t been as much of a problem since exterior pole antennas have become less and less common.

So protect your electronics from your own electronics! Contact your local residential electrician in Jackson, TN to investigate whole house surge protectors.