What Is A Surge Suppressor?

A Surge Suppressor Is Extremely Important In In Murrieta Homes

Installation of a whole house surge suppressor is virtually guaranteed to save you money. Two important areas to consider during the selection of a surge suppressor are performance and safety. A whole-house surge suppressor can protect all the circuits in your home from high-voltage surges.

A typical surge suppressor is a small box with several utility outlets, a power switch, and a 3-wire cord for plugging into a wall outlet. Ensure that the outlet the surge suppressor is plugged into is properly wired, with a good ground. A surge protector and surge suppressor are the same things.A surge suppressor is a device used in an electric circuit to prevent or reduce the likelihood of damaging effects due to unwanted higher-than-normal voltage surges.

What is a Surge Suppressor?

Power surges are very common occurrences, and they can be caused by any number of things. In addition to the turning-on and shutting-off of high-power electronic devices, a few other power surge culprits include nearby lightning strikes, power line disturbances, and high-frequency electromagnetic noise.

Over the years, as technology has progressed, electronics have grown more and more sensitive to fluctuations in the electrical currents powering them. The microprocessors and other fragile components in computers and home theater equipment can be compared to temperamental little divas: they perform like a dream, but if working conditions become unfavorable, they’ll blow up on you! Because of this, it’s more crucial than ever to invest in surge protection.

Whether or not you’ve known it all along, chances are pretty good that you have been coming into contact with surge suppressors on a daily basis. Simply put, a surge suppressor (or surge protector) is a device that protects electronic equipment from damage in the event of a power surge. Check more here.

A surge suppressor can provide great protection to your electrical devices, if in good operating condition and plug into a grounded receptacle.

Do You Really Need a Surge Protector?

How Surge Protectors Work

Before we can define how a surge protector works, we need to define an electrical surge. Think of the flow of electricity as the flow of water running through a pipe. Water moves from one end of a pipe to the other end due to water pressure – water moves from high pressure to low pressure. Electricity operates in a similar way, moving from areas of high electric potential energy to areas of low electric potential energy. In this case, it’s from one end of a wire to the other end.

Voltage is a measure of this electric potential energy – more specifically, the difference in electric potential energy. When the voltage increases above the norm for at least 3 nanoseconds, it’s called a surge. If the surge is high enough, it can cause wear and tear on your electronic devices, or in severe cases even destroy them.

Let’s go back to the water pipe example. If the water pressure within the pipe is too great, the pipe will burst. The same thing is true for electrical wiring. If the voltage of the wire is too great – meaning the difference in electric potential energy from one end to the other is too high – then the electricity will surge through. This heats up the wire, and if hot enough it can burn, rendering it useless. Read more here.

The key performance specifications to consider when selecting a whole-house surge suppressor are the maximum surge current in amperes and the total energy dissipation in joules.

HOW TO CHOOSE SURGE PROTECTION

Surge Protection Standards

There are some near worthless products on the market labelled as surge protectors.  While we are somewhat protected from false statements on products in Australia, it is still very easy to massage figures for surge protectors.  The best way to compare products is to go with trusted brands and to take a look at specifications that reference standards for measurement.

The most commonly used standards for surge protectors are those developed by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) in the US, and specifically UL1449.  This standard specifies the waveforms to be used in testing, defines terminology and test procedures, and categorises the type of protector.  It’s a useful reference when comparing specification of surge protectors, as otherwise the same unit might quote specifications which vary widely depending on how tests are developed.

Better quality surge protectors tend to quote this standard in their specifications.  Others standards are published by the Institute Of Electrical And Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and other professional bodies around the world. It is unwise to trust specifications that don’t refer to a respected standard.  Don’t take unrealistic numbers on the box at face value! See full article here.

A Surge Suppressor Will Protect Your Home

A surge suppressor can be built into in a power strip with multiple outlets. Having a surge suppressor can protect you from an improperly wired box all the way to a lightening strike. A surge suppressor will allow your electronics to have just the amount of power they need and no more.

The surge suppressor can be simply connected to the two leads of the circuit which is to be protected. Choosing a surge suppressor can often be a confusing conglomeration of numbers, prices and units of power call us here: (951) 805-1262. If there is an exceptionally powerful voltage surge, the components inside the surge suppressor will burn out to protect your equipment.

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