Understanding the significance between Lightning & Surge Protection
Lightning is the largest cause of damage as well as destruction to electrical components and equipment of the home. Lightning has the ability to generate electrical transients which are short-lived events that cause damage such as power surges, lightning strikes or over-voltage. Learning the difference between lightning strikes and issues can help you to learn how to better protect your home and personal belongings. At AC Repair Garland, we want to assist you in learning how to better protect your home from lightning issues.
Direct Lightning Strike
A direct lightning strike has the ability to generate millions of volts in electricity. At the same time, the strike can create hundreds of thousands of amps plus over-voltage. This can lead to damage of the structure of your home as well as destruction of equipment in the home that uses electricity. With lightning and power surges, electronics are easily damaged if no protection is in place.
Indirect Lightning Strike
With an indirect strike, the lightning involves a low-level transient event. The strike will be in the vicinity of your home and can damage powerlines that lead to over-voltage inside your home. This can be less damaging then a direct strike but still damaging nonetheless.
Surge Protectors
Because lightning can cause major damage to the electrical components as well as devices in the home, it is important to have protection in place. A surge protector, also known as a surge arrester, will help to protect power distribution points as well as systems from a surge of high electrical voltage that can occur with a lightning strike. The surge is arrested at the point of installation and discharged so that the critical equipment is not damaged. There are advanced systems that can dissipate the electrical charge from the building to help lower the change of a lighting strike taking place. Lightning and surge protection go hand in hand to be able to provide a safe environment for your electrical devices and components.
Surge Suppression
A device known as surge suppression will protect the home from electrical as well as lightning surges. This unit can be installed in-line or parallel. When a panel level surge suppressor is installed, the device will interrupt the circuit and isolate equipment from the source of the power surge. For home owners, there is a whole-house surge suppression system that can be installed for maximum coverage. This type of system will consist of in-line devices as well as surge suppressors. This type of system can be more expensive to install.
Protecting your home is important. You want to be sure that your electrical system is in top condition from the outlets to the circuit panel. You want to ensure that a strike of lightning and surge protection go together to protect your home. At AC Repair Garland, we are ready to assist you with your electrical needs, including lighting protection. Contact our office today to learn more about surge protection and what we can offer the electrical systems of your home.