It's Time to Check Your Wall Surge Protector

While you might know that you need a wall surge protector for your electronic appliance, not many people know that once you have it installed that is not the last of your worries. A surge protector will deteriorate over time as it steadily absorbs power surges. Once it reaches its absorption limit it will no longer function as a protection device and will become a simple power strip. You should therefore check your device at least once a year to make sure it still operates like it should.

How do you tell if it is no longer working? Well most surge protectors nowadays come equipped with an LED indicator light that lets you know that you are protected. This light is usually red. Some devices will have two LED lights: one red, one green. The green LED light indicates that the outlet the protector is Plugged into is properly grounded. While having a properly grounded outlet is important it will not matter if the red indicator light is out. That means your device is no longer working and your electronics are at risk of failing as well. Of course if the outlet is not grounded then your unit will not protect you anyway, which leads to my next point.

In spite of indicators lights letting you know you are protected, you are never 100% safe. Lightning blasts for example will outright fry any surge protection unit you have installed and may even damage or destroy the very equipMent it was trying to protect. Then you have units whose indicator light means nothing more than that it is Plugged in and turned on. This by the way is not a surge protector but simply a power cord. People often think that power cords are enough protection for them when the fact is these devices provide zero protection against surges.

Another misconception people have is about whole house surge protectors. These do not protect individual items but rather attempt to stop surges at the home's periMeter via the power Meter or main circuit board. They will still not stop a lightning blast. For individual electronics you will need to install a separate protector for each appliance.

If you want to know exactly what to look for when shopping for a protection unit then make sure you find something with at least 4,000 Joules. Joules measures the amount of volTAGe a suppressor can contain before it is rendered inoperable. Anything less than 4,000 Joules will find you replacing them more often.

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