You just plugged in your brand-new, high-tech fridge. Your kitchen light dims for a moment before shining bright again.
You can hear the TV in the family room report a weather advisory for a severe thunderstorm in your area. You remember what happened last time — your teenage son’s top-of-the-line game system short-circuited, leading to lots of tears from both of you.
So what do you do to prevent more short-circuits and associated temper tantrums?
Keep reading and learn how to protect your tech and appliances from a power surge.
We’ll explain what a power surge is, what types of problems it can cause, and five ways to protect your home and belongings from damage.
Table of Contents
- What Is a Power Surge?
- Can Power Surges Cause Electrical Problems?
- 5 Ways To Protect Your Home and Belongings From Damage During a Power Surge
- Protect Your Home and Electronics From Power Surges With PDX Electric’s Help
What Is a Power Surge?
A power surge is a sudden and intense burst of electrical voltage sent to a system that is not designed to handle it. These short, powerful spikes in electricity can potentially damage or destroy household appliances and other sensitive electronics.
There are two types of power surges: internal and external power surges.
Internal power surges – These originate from inside the house or building. They are usually only targeted at the specific electrical circuit where the event occurs. When a power surge happens on the same circuit repeatedly, it can degrade your appliances and devices over time. Internal surges make up an estimated 70-85% of all household surges.
They usually occur:
- When switching heavy appliances on and off
- With faulty or damaged wiring
- With short circuits
- With overloaded circuits
- When using devices like refrigerators and air conditioners
External power surges – These are typically caused by things happening outside the building at the power grid. They usually affect the entire building’s electrical system — potentially causing widespread, immediate, and catastrophic damage to multiple connected systems and devices.
Some common causes are:
- Lightening strikes
- Downed powerlines
- Transformer failures
- Utility grid switching — like when the power comes back on after an outage
Signs a Power Surge Has Taken Place
- Tripped circuit breakers
- Flickering or dimmed lights
- Blinking electrical clocks
- A burning smell or scorch marks on outlets
- Humming sounds from an outlet
Possible Causes of a Power Surge
- Lightning strikes – If one of these bolts of intense power strikes the ground near your house, it can cause millions of extra electric volts to overwhelm your home’s circuits. This much extra voltage can fry your electronics and appliances, preventing them from turning back on. If your business is not properly protected, it can cause the loss of any unsaved data and sensitive information.
- Power outages – If there’s a widespread power outage throughout your area, the massive burst of external energy caused by the utility company turning it back on can lead to power surges and appliance/device failures.
- Overloaded outlets/circuits – Too many things running on a single circuit or plugged into a single outlet can easily overload them.
- High power devices – When you power on large appliances like home elevators, refrigerators, and A/C units, they typically draw a large amount of initial energy. It can cause other appliances to flicker or blink on and off as the extra voltage runs through the same circuits.
- Damaged or faulty wiring – Small rodents chewing on your wiring inside your walls will likely cause your home’s electricity to act strangely as it flows through the damaged wires, and it’s a major fire hazard. If you smell something burning, it’s probably your wires overheating, and it’s critical to call your electrician immediately. Never touch frayed or damaged wires because you may get electrocuted.
Can Power Surges Cause Electrical Problems?
Yes, power surges can cause a lot of problems with your electricity; however, the damage done to your electrical system, appliances, and devices depends on the amount of extra voltage forced through your home’s circuits. High surge levels can lead to catastrophic failure or severe degradation. Lower surge voltage levels can cause gradual degradation, and interruptions can be a nuisance to homeowners.
Loss of Data
Your computers might crash unexpectedly, which could lead to losing unsaved work or data. If your work is not backed up somewhere else, it could cause a significant risk of data corruption, as well as security issues for sensitive and classified information.
Damaged Appliances
Delicate electronics like TVs, computers, and home entertainment systems are particularly vulnerable because extra voltage coursing through them can lead to internal circuit failures, like:
- Fried circuit boards
- Burnt components
- Complete device failure
Fire Risk
Large power spikes can compromise the integrity of wiring, leading to possible short circuits, increasing the fire risk from malfunctioning devices. They might:
- Overheat
- Spark
- Ignite
5 Ways To Protect Your Home and Belongings From Damage During a Power Surge
Obviously, there is nothing you can do to prevent external power surges, but you may be able to prevent internal power surges. In any case, there are also ways to prevent damage if a surge takes place.
#1: Unplug Unused Devices
When a storm is closing in, the best, safest practice is to unplug all of the nonessential appliances and tech before it hits.
Look for appliances you don’t use often that are not essential to your everyday existence — toasters, power tools, small appliances. If you don’t need to program your coffee maker or microwave, unplug them.
If the power is already out, unplug any nonessentials before the power company turns it back on to save them from overloading when the initial burst of energy surges the circuits.
#2: Upgrade Wiring
Do you frequently blow fuses or trip circuit breakers? Do your lights dim and flicker when your fridge or air conditioner kicks on?
Yes? Then you likely have inadequate electrical wiring throughout your home.
If your home was built before the 1980s, it’s likely your electrical system wasn’t designed to handle large-capacity fridges, entertainment systems, and computer equipment.
When you experience tripped breakers or flickering lights, don’t ignore them!
They’re telling you something’s wrong and should be looked at immediately. The underlying condition could be a fire hazard.
Don’t try to deal with this alone unless you are a certified electrician who’s qualified to tackle this.
If you aren’t, it’s best to hire a professional team, like PDX Electric, which has been serving homeowners in the Portland, OR, area since 2011.
#3: Repair Overloaded Circuits
Is your home newer than the 1980s, and you’re still experiencing power surges? The likely culprit is an overloaded circuit.
The most likely places for overloaded circuits are in the kitchen and family or living rooms.
Your kitchen might have two or more large appliances drawing power from the same circuit, especially if they are sharing the same outlet.
As for your family room, there are probably several small devices like:
- TVs
- Game consoles
- Computers
- Sound systems
- Chargers required to power your phones and game controllers
- And many others
While a single one of these devices may only draw a small amount of power, many together could overload the single circuit in that room.
It’s crucial to ask your electrician to create individual circuits for each large appliance and add multiple circuits in rooms that have multiple smaller devices.
#4: Install Surge Protectors or a Surge Protection System
Surge protectors are a simple and inexpensive way to protect your devices from the brief but powerful excess electricity that can damage your electronics. They monitor incoming voltage and activate when a surge occurs.
A whole-house surge protection system is designed to protect your house from external power surges, like lightning strikes and utility power outages. It connects to your electrical panel and is a first line of defense against large power surges.
It’s important to have a professional electrical inspection of your residence to ensure that the surge protection system can cover your entire residence.
#5: Schedule Routine Inspection and Maintenance Services
The best way to prevent power surges from destroying your tech is to be proactive in the first place. Scheduling an inspection with a licensed electrician should be part of your home’s routine maintenance. They should examine your entire electrical system and help identify outdated or damaged wiring, as well as any insufficient grounding issues.
Maintain a checklist for routine assessments, like checking your circuit breaker’s condition and verifying its connections and examining grounding systems.
Catching things early can prevent larger issues in the future, saving you time, money, and frustration.
Protect Your Home and Electronics From Power Surges With PDX Electric’s Help
If your home suffers from constant power surges or the PNW’s notorious weather is wreaking havoc on your home’s electrical systems, call PDX Electric. We’ve been serving Portland-metro area homes for more than 15 years, specializing in all things residential electric. So if you need a new charging station installed for your new electric car or wiring a new furnace to keep you warm during the winters in the Cascades, PDX Electric should be your next call.
