Have you ever experienced a sudden power outage or voltage spike that caused damage to your home devices like TVs, air conditioners, computers, and home appliances? If not, you are in luck. An unexpected power surge can ruin your devices, racking up thousands of dollars of damages in a single instant.
Power surges can occur due to lightning, voltage changes, or when large appliances turn on and off, and they can be incredibly damaging to your electronics. While a surge protector power strip can help safeguard individual devices, it’s usually not enough to protect your entire property. The answer? Invest in whole home surge protection. Continue reading to learn if it’s right for you.
What Is Whole Home Surge Protection?
Whole home surge protection is a system designed to protect all of the electrical devices in your entire home. This device is installed at the electrical panel in your home, and it is responsible for intercepting any excessive voltage before it can wreak havoc on your home’s electrical system.
How Do Whole Home Surge Protection Systems Work?
Whole home surge protectors work by monitoring the electrical current flowing into your home from the grid. Under normal conditions, the voltage is stable and consistent, allowing all your devices to operate safely. But, in the event of a power surge, the voltage level spikes for a brief period.
This is where the whole home surge protector steps in. The device detects this sudden increase in voltage and instantly diverts the excess energy safely to the ground, preventing it from entering your home’s electrical system. This protects your electronics and appliances from potential damage, as many devices are not built to handle such high levels of voltage.
Once the surge passes and the voltage returns to normal levels, the surge protector resets, ready to protect against the next spike in voltage. This way, whole home surge protectors provide a comprehensive safeguard against the damaging effects of power surges on your home’s electrical appliances and devices.
Benefits of Whole Home Surge Protection
Whole home surge protection offers the following benefits to homeowners:
- Provides complete protection for your entire home and all its electrical devices from power surges.
- Increases the lifespan of your electronic devices since it prevents power surges from damaging sensitive electronic components.
- Enhances the value of your property, which is especially important if you plan on renting or selling your home.
- Offers low maintenance ownership and can last for years if installed correctly.
- Gives you peace of mind, which is priceless.
Signs You Should Invest in Whole Home Surge Protection
Still wondering if whole home surge protection is right for you? If any of the following apply, you may want to consider upgrading your home with this defensive technology:
You work from home.
If you have an office full of sensitive electronics that hold your business data, you need to protect them. If you’re self-employed, you can generally off the expense on your tax return. Traditional employees may be able to get financial support from their employers for the upgrade.
You have a lot of electronics.
Whether you work from home or not, you likely have all kinds of electronics in your home. Laptops, PCs, gaming systems, and other electronics quickly add up, and a whole home protector secures these investments from unnecessary damage.
You have electric HVAC equipment.
If a surge ruins your electric heat pump or other HVAC equipment, you will be cold and miserable (or sweltering hot depending on the season). To regain your home’s comfort, you’ll need to pay for expensive repairs or replacements.
You want protection against electric fires.
The Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) notes that power surges are among the leading causes of electrical fires, home-based electronics damage, and appliance breakdowns in the US. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), electrical failures or malfunctions cause an average of 46,700 home structure fires every year in the United States. Whole home surge protection can ensure that your home doesn’t become part of these statistics.
You don’t want to rely on insurance claims.
The Insurance Information Institute reports that in 2018 alone, insurance companies paid out over $900 million in lightning claims, many of them related to surge damages to electronic devices. But that doesn’t mean you should necessarily rely on your insurance for these situations.
While most policies cover damage from surges, you will have to cover the deductible. Additionally, most policies limit coverage to a certain level and making a claim risks increasing your premiums. Not to mention the headache of making a claim, replacing your damaged devices, and losing data.
You’re ready to make an investment.
The cost of whole home surge protection depends on various factors such as the size of your home and the number of appliances you want to protect. Generally, you should expect to spend between $500 and $1500 for the unit’s purchase and installation. But the cost is nothing compared to what you could lose if your household electronic devices get damaged or worse, if there’s a fire in your home.
Protect Your Home’s Electronics Now
Whole home surge protection is an investment that adds value to your home and provides comprehensive protection to your entire property. Ready to protect all your devices? Then, let’s talk.
At N.E.T.R., Inc, we firmly believe in the benefits of whole home surge protection, and when we install heat pumps for homeowners, we always install a whole home surge protector as well. To learn more, contact us today.
