Surge Suppression Tips From Your Tampa Electrical Contractor

Voltage spikes and surges are an everyday occurrence in virtually every electrical system. Numerous culprits are to blame, the most notorious of which are weather, internal load switching, and the power provider.

Before we tackle the concept of surge suppression, we should first understand what exactly a surge is. In the United States, electrical energy flows through standard household wiring at an average rate of 120 volts. Because the system used is alternating current, the voltage level of every AC cycle reaches a peak value that is roughly 1.414 times higher than 120 volts. A surge occurs when the voltage level suddenly rises significantly higher than that. A lightning strike on a power line, for instance, will cause a transient spike in the electrical power entering your house. Problems with your utility company’s equipment such as a downed power line or a defective transformer can also cause power surges.

The terms surge protection device, or the out-of-date term transient voltage surge suppressor, are used to describe electrical devices typically installed in power distribution panels, process control systems, communications systems, and other heavy-duty industrial systems, for the purpose of protecting against electrical surges and spikes, including those caused by lightning. Scaled-down versions of these devices are sometimes installed in residential service entrance electrical panels to protect equipment in a household from similar peril.

Electrical spikes can arise from inside the home as well as outside. Being a Tampa electrician we know a whole house surge protector will not divert inside the house spikes. Therefore it is important to protect expensive electronics such as flat screen TVs, monitors, stereos, phone systems, and the like with point-of-use surge arrestors which are power strips with warranted surge protection.

None of these type devices will guard against direct lighting strikes. Do not base your purchase on any device claiming to protect against such. If you have multiple power sources entering your home from the outside you will need a service entrance surge protector on each line.

Make sure the unit begin purchased has a label that says "UL - listed transient voltage power protection". A "power tap" UL listing is not adequate. However one needs to be aware that the UL listing does not mean it will guard your sensitive electronics against spikes, but rather it represents its' protection of the consumer in cases of fire, electrocution, etc. Any device that is a TVSS (transient voltage surge suppressor) should list its' clamping voltage. In general, the smaller the clamping voltage, the better it will decrease power spike voltage. Look for a high Peak Surge Current number - the higher the better in comparing units.

Surge protectors, whether service entrance (whole home) or point-of-use, are effective and necessary, but represent only part of a protection strategy for homes with expensive electronics such as home theaters, stereo gear, computers, etc.

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