Surge Protectors: How Safe is Your HVAC System?
Your heater and air conditioner are major financial investments. But many homeowners haven’t taken the steps to
ensure their cooling and heating system is fully protected. A power surge can be a deadly blow to the electronics in your HVAC system. Is yours protected?
What is a power surge?
A power surge is a brief, momentary spike in voltage passing through an electrical line. Without going into too much detail, every appliance that uses electricity is designed to require a specific voltage and is plugged into a power outlet that delivers that voltage. A power surge produces more voltage than the appliance can handle, often resulting in damage to the electrical appliance.
What causes power surges?
Power surges can be the outcome of a variety of different things from weather conditions to bad wiring. No home is immune to power surges and all valuable appliances should have some sort of surge protection.
Common causes of power surges:
- Lighting/Electrical Storms
- Downed Power Lines
- Faulty Wiring
- Power Outages
- Large Appliances Cycling On or Off
- Power Plant Maintenance
- Bad Electrical Components
The risk to your HVAC system
Just like your other valuable electronic devices (computers, televisions, etc.), your heating and cooling system can be harmed by power surges. If you heater or air conditioner is subjected to a large spike in voltage, the electric components of your system can be damaged or destroyed.
Even if your heater or air conditioner is not obviously damaged from one electric power surge, repeated spikes and surges will wear down your equipment more quickly. Therefore, it is important that all HVAC systems have surge protection.
How a surge protector works
Surge protectors are designed to protect sensitive electronic devices from power surges by grounding the additional voltage. A surge protector for an HVAC system will shut off your system to save its electrical components.
If your system has been shut down due to a power surge, make sure you restart it properly. The best way to do this is by contacting the HVAC professionals that installed your system. They will be able to walk you through the process.
All homes are subject to power surges and spikes. As a result, it is important for homeowners to make sure their HVAC system is correctly protected from electrical power surges.
Service Champions provides heating and cooling services for Southern California residents. Contact us online for more information on protecting your heating and cooling investment.