Ways To Protect Electrical Appliances From Severe Storms With The Help Of An Emergency Electrician | Myrtle Beach, SC

7/6/2022

The National Weather Service in the country has a Storm Prediction Center that warns people of expected severe thunderstorms, damaging winds, hurricanes, and large hail for people to prepare before it hits their homes.

One of the ways of preparing for the storms includes protecting all the electrical appliances in your household from damage and from causing electrical accidents like burns, electrocutions, fires, or electric shocks.

Thunderstorms, lightning, hurricanes, or strong winds can destroy connected electronics and personal property. An emergency electrician or any electrical specialist in Myrtle Beach, SC, can help you safeguard your family and the electricals in your home during severe stormy conditions. Some ways to prevent damage to your appliances and home include: 

Unplugging Devices

It might seem obvious, but most people forget to unplug their appliances during storms, leading to numerous preventable electrical hazards that might require the expertise of an emergency electrician to fix. Some are ignorant of the dangers of hurricanes, floods, and lightning, continuing with their lives by connecting all their electrical devices during the storm.

Lightning strikes that are the most dangerous as a flash contains 300 million volts, exceedingly higher than the typical household current of 120 volts that runs appliances.

The hired electrician you get from a reputable electrical company in South Carolina can advise you to unplug all your electrical equipment when the severe storm approaches to protect them from lighting-related surges.

Disconnecting your electrical equipment from the sockets ensures they are safe from surges from lightning that can strike the wiring system that leads to your homes. Damages your appliance sustains from lightning strikes can be beyond the skills and expertise of a qualified emergency electrician.  

Install Surge Protectors

Sometimes the storm can start when homeowners are on vacation in another state or country, unable to unplug their electrical equipment and devices from the sockets and cables. The best way to prevent destructive surges from lightning that enters your home through a power feed is to get an emergency electrician to install the surge protectors in your home.

You can opt for different surge protectors, including service entrance, whole-house, and receptacle surge protectors. Electricians install service entrance surge protectors before the breaker panel in your house.

This way, lightning surge gets to the main distribution transformer through the surge protector, preventing destructive extremely high voltages from destroying appliances. Using their knowledge in electrical service, the electrician first disconnects power before installing the surge protector. Another surge protection device that protects your appliances against the effects of severe storms is the Whole-home surge protector.

An electrical professional can install it in the main breaker to safeguard all the circuits in your home. The whole-home surge protector can protect your appliances from large surges from storm lightning to smaller ones.

A qualified emergency electrician can also install the receptacle surge protectors that arrest the excess power voltage to the ground wire, reducing the impact of destructive surges from lightning and other storm-related incidents that affect power lines. 

Move Switchboards

Severe storms also come with floods that can make their way into Myrtle Beach, SC homes, creating indoor floods.

Homeowners that encounter floods should get an emergency electrician to relocate the switchboards from previous flood levels, protecting electrical devices and equipment from damage. Apart from moving the electrical boards, the electrical expert can also remove all the wiring done in the flood levels, reducing the chances of short circuits in appliances.

Ensure to move all the electrical equipment on the ground to higher grounds to prevent exposure to floods that can lead to the destruction of the appliance.  

Install Whole-home Lightning Protectors

Another way of protecting your appliances is to have a lightning protection system. An electrician from a nearby electrical company can install lighting rods, ground rods, bonds, and conductors in your house. The devices work together to intercept strikes from lightning strikes, redirecting the excess volts to the ground.

Even though the primary purpose of the lightning protection system is to protect structures from fires, storm-related destructions, and people from death and burns, hence protecting your appliances as well.

An emergency electrician can install the external lightning protection systems to intercept direct lightning strikes through an air termination system, redirect the high lightning current to the ground and distribute it through the earth-termination system.

The professional in Myrtle Beach, SC, can also set up an internal lightning protection system in your home that protects the lightning sparks from your house, leading to electric fires and the death of people. 

Installation of a Safety Switch

Folks can also protect their electrical appliances from the impacts of severe storms by having an electrician install a safety switch. It is a device that connects to your electrical system allowing homeowners to turn it off immediately if they suspect electrical dangers in their houses.

The safety switch can trip during the stormy season once it senses faults in the wiring system or water in the walls that affect the power circuit.

With proper installation and regular check-ups by an emergency electrician, your appliances are safe from destruction due to faulty circuits resulting from floods and other storm-related impacts. So, people can go for the safety switch for installation in your home before a storm because it turns off within milliseconds of sensing electrical dangers in the circuit due to storms , preventing electrical accidents for people and appliance destruction. 

In a Nutshell!

Severe storms, heavy rains, lightning strikes, high winds, and flash floods can affect lives by causing electrical hazards and damaging electrical equipment. Although you might have an insurance policy for your life and some of the appliances, it is best to get an emergency electrician to install lightning protection systems, safety switches, and surge protectors to protect your electricals.

At Mister Sparky of Myrtle Beach you are assured of exceptional electrical services. Our technicians are highly educated, skilled, certified, and qualified to address numerous types of electrical issues. Give us a buzz today. 

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