Shoppers can save hundreds of pounds by shopping on the famous Black Friday, and some of the best deals that are offered are on high-end electronics that are extremely vulnerable to power surge damage. Most shoppers are aware of this danger and they have surge protectors installed throughout their homes but, not everyone understands that surge protectors expire!
If you are using an old surge protector that is over 3 years old then you may as well plug any device connected it to straight into the wall socket. East Kent Electrical is here you help you and let you know how these surge protectors can go bad!
They Can Only Take So Much
Surge protectors are brilliant, and they fulfill their purpose by absorbing surges of excess electricity. These surges can come from various sources such as lightning strikes and transformer malfunctions, the small ones are caused by the start-up of large appliances like your electric cooker, the microwave, and even your hairdryer.
When a surge protector does its job and absorbs these surges, the excess electricity flows into a small metal oxide varistor, these don’t last forever. They might complete their life cycle after hundreds of tiny surges or blow out in a grand finale during one massive surge. They will always fail at some point during their long timeline.
Even when they fail, your surge protecting power lead will continue to transmit energy, it just won’t protect your devices any longer. Therefore, it’s important to be mindful about when your surge protector needs replacing.
How Can You Tell?
This is the tricky part. Every surge protector has a different amount of excess electricity that it can absorb, but some do have reliable ways of alerting you that they have failed or are failing.
Some but not all surge protectors have an indicator light, this is designed to show you if they are actively protecting your devices. Unfortunately, these indicator lights are not always fully reliable. Other brands will have a printed expiration date but since these expire on an energy absorbed basis, they again are not 100% reliable.
Because of this, most users will often replace their surge protectors after roughly two years or after there has been a major electrical surge. Since the cost of these surge protectors are cheater compared to the electronics that they protect, this is a very smart investment to help protect your equipment.
What Else Can I Do?
If you don’t want to keep replacing your surge protectors every couple of years, there is another option. You could consider protecting your entire home from electrical surges. This type of technology is wired directly into your circuit board which, turns all your plug sockets into surge protectors.
You can take away the guesswork of replacing surge protectors by having your local electrician in Thanet install and maintain your mains power surge protection.
If you’re not ready to have your entire house surge protected at this time, then you should be on the lookout for any Black Friday deals going on which could protect your expensive electronics from failure.
If you require any further information about surge protectors, you can contact us or use our online booking form to book a professional electrician to visit your home.
