Surge Protection: Whole House Vs. Power Strips

Anything connected to a power source in your home can potentially be damaged by a surge in electricity or a lightning strike. Power surges and spikes can not only destroy expensive electronic equipment and home appliances, but in some cases, they can even cause house fires.

Power surges typically enter a home or place of business through the main powerlines coming off the power grid, but they can also enter a home via a telephone, cable, satellite, or even an irrigation system. It’s vital to catch these power surges before they reach valuable electronic equipment in your home.

What Is Whole House Surge Protection?

A whole house surge protector is a device that gets wired directly to the electrical service box in your home and protects your home from external surges, like the surge of electricity generated when lightning strikes a nearby transformer.

Whole House Surge Protection Is the Best Way to Catch a Major Power Surge

If you want to avoid fires and damage to electronic devices all over your home, whole house surge protection is the best option. Most power surges come from the main power supply to the house, so this approach will stop the surge before it can reach all of your electronic devices.

Power strip surge protectors aren’t designed to handle large power surges and may not be able to protect devices when a big external power surge hits.

Whole House Surge Protection Doesn’t Replace Power Strips

A whole house surge protector doesn’t mean you won’t need to install power strip surge protectors all over your house. Our technicians can install a variety of electronic surge protection devices throughout your home to help keep valuable electronics safe.

A power surge can be generated from inside the home or from a lighting strike to the house itself; so you’ll want valuable electronics to be protected at the source AND by a whole house surge protector. You can never be too careful!

Not All Power Strips Have Surge Protection

Choose your power strips wisely. In fact, you may be surprised to learn that some power strips aren’t equipped with surge protection at all. So you might think a valuable electronic device is protected, only to find out that the power strip does nothing to keep your electronics safe.

But Won’t Insurance Replace All My Damaged Electronics?

Don’t count on a basic homeowner’s policy to cover all your electronic devices. You should have a conversation with your insurance agent to determine exactly what is covered in your current policy. Some companies offer optional coverage and others include this in the basic policy, it just depends. Be proactive and make sure you are aware of your coverage before a crisis happens.

Homes Need Both Power Strips & Whole House Surge Protection

Power strips are designed to protect your equipment from small, internal surges of electricity, while whole house surge protectors are designed to protect you from large voltage surges from the power grid. Having both is the best way to keep your electronics safe.

Contact Moseley Electronics to learn more about whole home surge protection and protecting your valuable electronics from the dangers of a power surge.