Do you need a surge protector for your garage door opener? Maybe you have purchased a heavy-duty surge protector for your expensive stainless steel refrigerator and large, flat-screen television, but the electric-powered automatic opener in the garage wasn’t on your mind. Here’s why you should obtain surge protection for your opener and additional outlets in your garage.
Damage from a Power Surge
When devices are plugged into electrical outlets, a constant flow of current runs from the outlet to the inner circuitry, which powers all functions of the device. A power surge is a brief spike in electrical current, and when this voltage spike reaches the device’s circuit board, it can destroy all electrical functions. No repairs can undo the damage from a power surge. If this happens, you will need to call out an electrician to visit your home and take a look at the damage that has been done.
Power surges can come at any time. In some cases, they originate with improper wiring in a home’s electrical system. This needs to be sorted by someone like hometeamelectric.com/city-page/indian-wells/ to ensure all is safe and well. Other times, a tree branch that falls on nearby power lines or a lightning strike to a neighborhood transformer can cause a power surge that can ruin all plugged-in devices. This is why it’s so important to ensure you have surge protection installed to protect your appliances. If you’re wanting to learn more about these, it might be worth contacting your local electrician or visiting a website like Https://safeandsoundelectric.com/surge-protection/. Electrical surges can be problematic, so it’s always best to try and prevent one from having such a disastrous impact on your appliances.
How Do Surge Protectors Help?
Power surges are too strong for the typical wall outlet to control. Surge protectors block and absorb the excess electrical current, ensuring only the regular amount of voltage is transmitted to the plugged-in device. Surge protectors eventually wear down once they have absorbed all the voltage they were built to handle. High-quality surge protectors have a fast response time, cutting off the rising electrical current before it reaches a dangerous level. They also have a low clamping voltage, the setting for the amount of voltage needed for the device to kick in. Electricians can help to sort your entire home from electrical surges, for people who feel less equipped to deal with it for themselves. For example, if you live in the Waterloo area in Canada then visiting a website of a company like Home-Pro Electric for a Waterloo electrician would be a reliable source to deal with electrical surge protection within a home and it could also save money in the long run.
Automatic garage door openers may be constructed with a certain amount of built-in surge protection but will wear down and require additional coverage. Replacing an automatic garage door opener could cost a few hundred dollars, not including installation fees. Surge protection is an affordable preventive measure that will save homeowners money in the long term.
Protect Against Additional Hazards
Using surge protection at the outlet where the opener is powered is the most affordable solution, but installing whole-home protection can ensure all other garage power sources are defended against power surges and the resulting damage. If you have a workshop in the garage, expensive tools may stay plugged into wall outlets. Freezers, refrigerators, and laundry machines may all utilize the garage space. A power surge may not only destroy the circuit boards in all tools and appliances but could also cause sparks to fly. In a garage full of paint, fuel, and other flammable materials, this might lead to a devastating house fire.
Talk to Accent Garage Doors today if you’re interested in finding the right surge protector for your garage and maintaining the condition of your automatic garage door opener.