home appliances

Types of Surge Protectors for Your Home Appliances

Most home appliances now run on electricity. While this is far cheaper than natural gas and has made appliances easy to maintain, electricity also poses a threat to your device when not adequately controlled. Four primary power disturbances types might affect your appliances in varying degrees. These include radio frequency interference, magnetic interference, power surges, and voltage dips. The most common among these are power surges. These are sudden voltage increases above the 120 volts often needed by home appliances.

Power surges are the common causes of a dryer repair for Bountiful residents, among other electric appliances.  The surge causes an electrical current arc within your device. This arc, in turn, generates heat that damages the electrical circuit board and other electrical components of your appliance. While large power surges often cause the immediate failure of your device, small ones often slowly damage your appliances and shorten your appliance’s durability. The following are the protectors a repair technician might recommend for your appliances.

Primary Type Protectors

These, unlike what most homeowners are used to are installed within your power lines. They not only protect your appliance from power surges but also your home’s electrical wiring. Primary type surge protectors are quite powerful and, at times, use your internal ground wires to boost their efficacy. Municipalities and home contractors generally install them.

Secondary Type Protectors

These are designed to be inserted into your home’s power sockets. The appliance is, in turn, plugged into the secondary types protector. These are the most common types of surge protectors in residential and commercial properties. Though less powerful compared to primary type surge protectors, secondary protectors are convenient, easy to use, and portable.

Power Strips

These are more or fewer types of secondary surge protectors. They are also meant to be plugged into your property’s electrical outlets. Unlike the standard secondary type protectors, however, these have multiple outlets. As such, you can use them to protect numerous appliances at once. Power strips will ordinarily cut the current flow in case there is an electric surge.

Uninterrupted Power Surge Protectors

Black power surge. Isolated on a white background.

These are also secondary type protectors and come in several styles. The primary feature that distinguishes the protectors from other secondary ones is that they have batteries. To most property owners, this does not seem like such a big deal. Power surge protectors nonetheless cut off the power supply to your appliance in case there is a surge. This will leave your appliance unpowered. Even so, uninterrupted power surge protectors continue powering your device with the battery. These surge protectors are ideal for devices that might be damaged by a sudden loss of power like computers.

Your choice of the above surge protectors is not one to be solely guided by price. You should pick one that matches your appliances’ power rating to guarantee it protects rather than damages it. When properly selected and installed, a surge protector minimizes the risks of electrical damage to your appliances and extends their life. Moreover, the costs of frequent appliance repairs are negated.

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