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Angie's List: Whole Home Surge Protection

Power
Posted at 8:00 AM, Dec 20, 2016
and last updated 2019-03-04 10:44:56-05

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - We live in the Digital Age and that means we have a seemingly never-ending array of electrical gadgets plugged in at home, most of them 24/7. That connection fuels their operation but it also exposes them to damage. In today’s Angie’s List report: a way to guard your gadgets from a power surge.

Surge protection isn’t a home improvement project you’ll want to show off to your neighbors but you might be happy to brag about it if it’s done its job. Electrical surges happen all the time and they’re not something you can control. Lightning strikes can cause them to occur, but they’re not the most common cause of electrical havoc.

Surge protection is kind of like having an air bag in your electrical panel. If a surge comes in, it absorbs that energy, keeping it from traveling through to your electronics.

A licensed electrician can install a mid-grade surge protector for just a few hundred dollars. Higher grade units can cost 1-thousand dollars or more but they offer more protection. Most units have a lifetime replacement warranty.