Power or voltage surges are very short periods of high voltage that happen in the blink of an eye. An extremely high voltage surge can damage major appliance motors and totally destroy sensitive electronic equipment.

While you can buy an inexpensive surge protector, I recommend getting one of the more expensive models which usually carry a warranty, in case they fail due to lightning. Also, make sure to get a protector that has phone jacks to protect equipment such as fax machines, and computers.

You can also have a professional install a surge protection device at your home’s breaker box to stop the surge BEFORE it enters the house. But even the most effective surge protectors give you no guarantee in the event of a direct lightning strike.The best way to prevent damage during a storm is to simply unplug devices that could be damaged beyond repair.

Please Leave a Comment

8 Comments on “Controlling Power Surges”

You can follow comments to this article by subscribing to the RSS news feed with your favorite feed reader.

1. Jeanette Land Says:
   August 2nd, 2007 at 1:27 am

   What about lightening rods,
   Do these work to potect home against a lightening strike?

2. 

   ben Says:
   August 2nd, 2007 at 11:38 am

   Jeanette,
   Good question. As someone who was once struck indirectly by lightning, I have a very personal interest in the subject. The effectiveness of lightning rods has been questioned ever since they were invented by Benjamin Franklin in the 1700s. The current thinking is that while they don’t attract a strike or prevent one from occurring, they can help reduce damage by directing the electricity to the ground. This is mainly a factor if you live in a tall or exposed building. Regardless, I would still use a surge protector for electronic equipment and unplug it from the wall during a storm. And don’t forget to unplug cable and telephone lines from the equipment, too, since a surge from lightning can come in on those as well.

3. Jeanette Lland Says:
   August 2nd, 2007 at 6:15 pm

   Thank you so much for the information.J. Land

4. Marji Snider Says:
   January 15th, 2008 at 7:39 pm

   What is the correct surge protector to have installed at the fuse box to protect our home? We live in the country and experence surges often. Thank you

5. Bill Maginnis Says:
   March 16th, 2008 at 5:55 pm

   I live in the Southwest (Tucson) and we have incredible summer “monsoon” storms with some of the most intense lightening storms. Lightening strikes can travel through phone lines from up to a mile away and take out your computer through your phone line plugged into your DSL modem or internal modem. I don’t know if the same is true for coax for cable TV/modem into the PC through the Ethernet cable, but why tempt fate?!?
   Unplug the PC during lightening storms.

6. Bill Maginnis Says:
   March 16th, 2008 at 5:59 pm

   I’ve also heard of lightening hitting power lines, traveling down the line and taking out networking switches or ports on a switch. Not much to do there except put a really decent surge suppressor (with high # joule clamping) to provide clean power to the networking equipment.

7. Diana Hedin Says:
   July 29th, 2009 at 9:27 pm

   Hello: I have a surge protector with 2 phone jacks. One says in the other says out. I need to connect Directv to a phone line. How do I make this work? Do I need 2 cords? Where does the out phone cord go to? I’m confused.
   Thanks,

8. 

   Ben Erickson Says:
   August 4th, 2009 at 10:19 am

   Hi Diana,
   Yes, you’ll need an extra phone cable to run the phone line through the surge protector. Connect the cable that comes from the wall jack to the “in” or “input” jack in the surge protector, and cable that goes to the phone (or in your case, the DirectTV converter box) to the “out” or “output” jack.

Comments submitted may be edited for clarity and used on Homefront, Today’s Homeowner^®, or posted in articles on dannylipford.com at our discretion. In addition, you may submit questions at our contact page or by calling (800) 946-4420.