| POWER SURGES | |
A surge is the opposite of a brown out or power failure. A power SURGE occurs when there is a brief spike in the power supply of your home. Any spike lasting for more than three nanoseconds - 3 billionths of a second - is considered a surge.
FYI: A nanosecond is one billionth of a second, a blink of an eye is about 15 thousandths of a second.
Power surges affect us because they are detrimental to the equipment at the receiving end of it. |
| EXTERNAL SURGES | |
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The most familiar external power surge is a lightning strike. Energy from the lightning can flash through your home through ANY of the lines entering your home - power, TV cable, and even phone lines
The CN Tower is struck by lightning 75 times a year but - thankfully - your home is very rarely subjected to that kind of charge.
MORE FREQUENTLY external power surges come from the power line equipment itself. For example:
- if a car hits a hydro pole, the parallel lines on the pole can collide and create a surge
- a violent wind storm can whip the lines and if they touch they create a surge
- a hydro transformer on the pole may wear out and the internal equipment can burn up resulting in a surge in your home power.
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| A Recent Example of an External Surge | |
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On October 22nd a family arrived at their cottage to enjoy the last weekend of the season. Their neighbours had let them know that a tree had fallen across their hydro lines, but that it had been cleaned up and the lines repaired. The force of the tree had made the parallel hydro lines touch and and a violent surge of power shot through the incoming power line of their home.
Inside they found large scorch marks around the kitchen and bath receptacles and their television was not working.
 | | The surge of power travelled through the wiring; burning the inside of the box, the wires and receptacle |
Looking at the electrical panel they could see scorching on the face of the cover. After their technician removed the cover and breakers, the extent of the damage was even more obvious:
 | | The black smoke was forced out of tiny openings in the panel cover hinting at the concealed damage |
 | | The blackened plate seen here is the busbar of the electrical panel. it is the part of the panel behind the breakers and is the connection point where the power enters each breaker. Before the surge happened it was a shiny aluminum colour. |
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| INTERNAL POWER SURGES - Internal power surges are part of the normal activity in our electrical system. | |
Have you been in a room and seen the lights dim and then correct themselves?
Large electrical equipment, such as furnaces, air conditioners and refrigerators require a lot of energy to switch on and when they cycle off it creates a sudden, brief over supply of power, upsetting the steady voltage flow in your electrical system.
While these surges don't carry the intensity of lightning , they happen five to ten times each day and are detrimental to the equipment exposed to them.
You might ask, if internal power surges are an inherent part of our electrical system, why didn't we need surge protectors in our homes 30 years ago like we do now?
The answer is that our equipment is more sensitive now. Most fridges and stoves, washers and dryers, and all computers, and home entertainment systems are now controlled by sophisticated microprocessors. These are more delicate than the mechanical technology that made older appliances work, and are easily damaged by voltage surges.
Power surges are not a new phenomenon, but becoming increasingly a problem as more and more appliances are controlled using sensitive electronic technology.
To protect these investments you must protect your equipment from both external and internal surges. |
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Stay tuned next month for "Protecting your electrical system from external surges."
Yours for a surge-free month! Cheri 
The Shock Doctors |
| Ask the Doc | |
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Last month's article "Are you Grounded" raised numerous questions from our readers. This one was just good fun!
Dear Doc:
Do I need to ground my crystals to my tinfoil hat to dissipate the anti-matter from negative people that I encounter or is it ok if I just wear golf shoes? I'm unaware of the laws of physics because I don't have a law degree.
Thanks for any advice in this regard.
Martin, Coldwater
Dear Martin:
First let me thank you for your question. I usually find people from Coldwater very well grounded. I would say that the sight of a man with ground wires running from his crystals (thank you for being so discreet) to his tinfoil hat with the added benefit of golf shoes would unquestionably dissipate any negativity immediately turning it into absolute hilarity. Thank you for making the world a more positive place.
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