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With all the recent storms we have had in the past couple of weeks here in the Villages, many have realized the need for surge protection. When we have storms with cloud to ground lightning, when a lightning bolt hits a home, a tree or the ground for example, an electromagnetic pulse is generated which travels through the air and can couple to your electrical system at the HVAC, or pool and spa equipment, cable lines and any other electrical circuit in your home. When these events occur, since there is usually no spectacular fire, it often is never reported and the homeowner is left to work with the insurance company, pay the deductible and possible future policy increases to replace any damaged or destroyed appliances, HVAC and pool equipment, TVs, computers etc. What makes it worse is some surges do not destroy but can damage appliances which then fail months after the event and the insurance claim closed.

While lighting is a something we have to live with here in Central Florida, there are things us as homeowners can to "manage" this risk. First, you can install a whole house surge protector which is installed at your circuit breaker panel. The Eaton Ultra surge protectors do an excellent job as this Type-2 surge protection device. Since it's located at the circuit breaker panel, any rise in voltage from the power utility or any branch circuits in your home will be blocked or reduced so the rest of the Type-3 or what we call point-of-use protectors such as power strips, cubes, etc., can handle whatever surge remains. This is why surge protection is a "layered" system. Focusing on surge protection for several years here in the Villages, it's my opinion that every homeowner should make it a priority to install this Type-2 whole house surge protection device because it's not if but when this type of event can happen. The recent electrical code has changed so all the new home builds now have this type of surge protector installed. I know there will be people reading this that lived here for 10 years or more that never had this happen to them but with all the climate change occurring over the years, severe storms have increased this risk. If you still have cable TV, it's very common this induced surge can couple to your cable line as an entry to your home. If a lightning strike is close enough to your HVAC and or pool and spa equipment, the surge can couple directly to those entry points. Fortunately, you can install a surge protection device on your cable line entry point in your garage and at your HVAC and pool and spa disconnect boxes.

The installation of a whole house surge protector at the circuit breaker panel should be installed by an electrician since it's not a DIY project. You can use your own electrician or any of the electrical companies here in the Villages to have it installed but since Pikes is offering a "special" discount right now, it's a good time to consider having one installed since surge protection is very important now that we are in "storm" season. Lightning induced power surge damage to home electronics happens way more that you would believe. We don't hear of these events because there is no spectular fire.

Concerning the surge protection device installed by Seco at your electrical meter, this device is specifically designed to block or reduce power surges coming from the power utility. It is not designed to protect sensitive electronic devices as the Eaton Ultra is designed to do and it specifically states this in their warranty documentation. According to a Leviton study, power surges from the power utility occur approximately 20% of the time whereas power surges from everywhere else occur 80% of the time. So, you need Both to cover all possible power surge events. If you can't install everthing at one time, I would install the Seco protector after installing the Type-2 protection at the circuit breaker panel and updating all of your Type-3, point-of-use protectors such as power strips, etc.. since these devices will protect your home from the most common lightning induced power surges.

So, now is the time to get a whole house surge protector.