No matter where you live, your home is bound to be affected by an electrical disaster at some point. An electrical disaster refers to faults in your home’s electrical system and have the potential to be quite damaging to your home. This can not only result in a lengthy repair bill, but is also a health hazard. When aiming to protect your home against this threat, it’s important to note that power surges are the most common.

A power surge can occur due to many different reasons, though its impact on your home is always harmful. Regardless of the cause of a surge, it is capable of destroying your appliances and can even result in a fire under extreme circumstances. This is why a lot of homeowners like to opt for insurance services such as refrigerator surge protection so that even in case of a surge, they won’t have to cover the full cost of their damaged appliance.

If you want to prepare for a surge in advance, the following is a brief explanation of what a surge is, along with some ways for you to prevent excessive damage to your home.

What Is a Surge?

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A power surge refers to a sudden spike in the voltage supply to a home. It can occur due to either natural or man-made causes, although the latter is more common. When a surge occurs, it can damage any of your appliances that are connected and functioning at the time. Check this for more information.

Some of the most common causes of power surges are as follows.

• Lightning strike: This type of surge has a great magnitude and can often result in fires. Surges caused by lightning are often unpredictable and difficult to avoid, which is why there are home insurance services available that can help cover the costs for this type of surge damage.
• When electricity suddenly begins flowing through a home’s circuit after a prolonged power outage, it can result in a surge that harms your appliances.
• Obstructions in the power lines outside your home, such as a bird flying into them, can also result in a power surge.

These are only some of the causes of a surge, and the following are ways to help protect your home against them.

Turn Off the Main Power Supply

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One fool-proof way to protect your home against unpredictable electrical disasters is to cut off the main power supply. This temporarily stops current from flowing through your home’s circuit and prevents any excess voltage from entering your home. No matter how harsh the weather gets, your home and belongings become relatively much safer.

If you choose to do this, it’s important to note that you’ll be unable to make use of one of the most important utilities in your home. This could prevent you from carrying out a lot of your tasks throughout the day which leads to your productivity taking a hit. To avoid having to put your tasks on hold, a good alternative is to just unplug the gadgets that are most vulnerable to a surge. This refers to larger gadgets that consume more electricity and would be difficult to replace.

Do Not Overload Outlets

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Something a lot of homeowners tend to overlook is the overcrowding of power outlets. This type of negligence is both a health hazard and harmful to your home. Every outlet in a home has a certain power load limit. This means that it’s meant to give out only a certain amount of voltage at a time, and exceeding this limit can have major consequences.

If you aren’t careful with the number of appliances you connect to a single power source, you’re essentially forcing it to provide more electricity than its limit. This may result in a power surge that can affect every single appliance connected through that source. You must always try to avoid adding too many appliances to a single extension or outlet and be especially careful with larger appliances that require more power.

Install Whole-Home Surge Protection

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If you want the most reliable way to protect your home against a surge, whole-home surge protection may be your best option. While individual surge protectors make selected outlets in your home safer, this service will protect every single entry point for electricity in your home. A surge protection service is a thorough and reliable long-term investment that will keep your appliances safe from harm in case of a power surge.

The way this service works is that it grounds the excess voltage before it flows into your home; this prevents it from reaching your electronics. This is a great option for people who don’t tend to move often since they might need a long-term solution to surge damage.

It’s important to remember that even whole-home surge protection doesn’t guarantee complete protection against intense surges; however, this may be your best bet if you want to prevent irreparable damage to your electronics.

Final Thoughts

A power surge is one of the most common electrical disasters and it can be severely damaging to both your home electrical installations and to appliances you have. The slightest malfunctions in your home can result in a surge which means it can even occur while you away or asleep. This makes it very dangerous since it may be too late before you’re able to do damage control.

In extreme cases, these accidents can result in the loss of property or even your life. Fortunately, damage from surges can be prevented with only a few simple precautions. You can equip your home with the best gadgets and keep an eye on updates to ensure that you’re always ready to face any such issues. This way you will protect your family and household from disaster that can be quite costly.