It’s a common belief that lightning strikes cause power surges – and although that’s true, most power surges occur from inside your home. A power surge is an intense power spike in your home’s electrical current. Surges occur when there’s an interruption in the flow of electricity or when a device that is supposed to pull electricity pushes it back into the current instead, causing the current to spike past the safe limit.
How to Protect Your Home from Power Surges
- Use point-of-use surge protectors wisely
- Power strips help protect from power surges – however, sensitive electronics like computers shouldn’t share outlets with high energy devices like printers or air conditioners because they can cause their own surges.
- Power strips help protect from power surges – however, sensitive electronics like computers shouldn’t share outlets with high energy devices like printers or air conditioners because they can cause their own surges.
- Install whole-home surge protection.
- Whole-home surge protection automatically diverts the surge into the ground, protecting your home’s entire electrical system from surges. It’s installed to your breaker box and acts as a gateway for electricity.
- Check your wiring.
- Faulty wiring can cause more damage during a power surge.
- Unplug electronics during a storm.
- Unplugging sensitive electronics like computers and televisions prevent them from being affected by power surges caused by a lightning strike.
For more outage safety tips, visit ConsumersEnergy.com/outage.
