What efforts are you making to keep your HVAC system safe? If you don’t have surge protection in place for your heating and cooling equipment, your system could end up being damaged by power surges.
A power surge can be a sudden, brief boost in electricity flowing to your wall outlets, or else a series of milder surges over a long period of time. There are a number of causes. The most familiar cause is lightning, though it certainly isn’t the most common. When a lightning storm results in a power surge, however, the voltage can increase by the millions. Obviously, you want to keep your HVAC system safe from this extreme type of power surge, which could ruin your equipment.
There are other, more common causes of power surges, such as faulty wiring, trouble at your utility company’s end, or downed power lines. The most common cause, however, is simply the use of high-power electrical devices. When a vacuum, hair dryer, refrigerator or air conditioner kicks on, it requires a lot of energy for a brief period of time. This can cause the lights to flicker because the steady flow of electricity is interrupted.
Mild power surges are actually very common, and even they can damage expensive electronic equipment over a long period. With both the cumulative smaller surges and the rare but extreme power surges, you may be unable to keep your HVAC system safe if you don’t have precautions in place.
There are two popular ways to protect your HVAC equipment. The first is to use a surge protector at the point of use, like you use to protect your computer from power surges. The second is to use surge protection at the service entrance, muffling all incoming electrical power with a single device.
You may want to use both kinds of surge protection to keep your HVAC system safe and protect all other devices in your home at the same time. With maximum protection comes the greatest peace of mind.
To learn more about how to keep your HVAC system safe against power surges, please contact Joe Behr Plumbing & Heating in Lexington today. We've been serving the Mid-Ohio area since 1965.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about surge protection and other HVAC topics, visit our website.
Joe Behr Plumbing and Heating, Inc. services the Mid-Ohio area.
