 The Shock Doctors Progressive Electrical Services Ltd
ECRA/ESA #7001377 |
|
|
|
Thank You for voting us "Best of Orillia" !
YOU are the best! Thank you for taking your time to submit our name in the "Best of Orillia" Packet and Times contest last month.
Thanks to YOU we have been knighted "Best Electricians".
With much appreciation for making our day!
Chadwick, Terry, Scott,and Scott
|
|
|
| EXTERNAL SURGES | |
Last month's newsletter introduced you to surges: a brief spike in the amount of electricity travelling through the wiring of your home.
The most common cause , and route, of EXTERNAL SURGES is through your hydro wires:
- when the power lines collide with one another due to wind and ice
- when a hydro transformer wears out and burns up
- or when a tree comes down across the lines
The resulting surge travels down the hydro lines into your home.
A lightning surge is less frequent, but because of its intensity, a lightning surge can find its way in through - not only the hydro wires - but also cable, satellite, phone lines, central air conditioners and drilled wells, not even needing to hit them directly to energize them.
Surges caused by the above incidents send thousands of volts throughout the internal wiring of your home. The problem is that the wires in your home have only been engineered to safely carry up to 300 volts. When surged, the home wires and appliance wires that are plugged in to the outlets are heated up like the filament in a light bulb.
Sometimes the results are immediate and both the wiring and devices are burned and ruined.
Sometimes the damage is not immediately apparent, but the wiring or devices are weakened and their lifespan shortened. |
| Key protection points | | |
The key entry points to your castle that must be protected from external surges (in order of risk) are:
- hydro service
- phone
- cable TV/internet
- central air conditioners
- drilled wells
|
| How Surge Protection Works | | |
Entry point surge protectors metaphorically work like a "pressure valve". When the surge protector detects a voltage spike over an allowable level entering your home, the excess power is immediately diverted through the surge protector and drains into the grounding system of your home, sparing your internal wiring and anything hooked up to it. |
| Choosing a good surge protector | | |
 | |
C= accepted in Canada
UL = Underwriters Laboratory
Listed = independently tested by UL |
NOT ALL SURGE PROTECTORS ARE CREATED EQUAL!
Requirements for products offering surge protection have come a long way. There are minimum acceptable standards for these products for use in Canada. Surfing the net will glean you bits and pieces of suggested ratings for these products, but the best way to know that you have the right product is to make sure that the surge protector specs say "UL LISTED 1449 (revision 3)" which became mandatory in 2009. UL is an independent, not-for-profit product safety certification organization that tests products and writes standards globally.
Note 1: If it is legal for use in Canada, it must have that small c present.
Note 2: If the product claims that it is tested to UL 1449 standards, instead of UL listed, IT IS INFERIOR. Testing has not been performed by Underwriters Laboratories.
|
|
Grounding is critical | | |
Checking the main ground of your home is the first and most critical step in using any surge protection product. All surge protectors rely on, and assume, that the home is properly grounded.
If the ground system of your home is not working, no number of surge protective devices will protect you. You are essentially locking your guard dog in his cage and expecting him to keep out the intruders. |
| Do you have a question for the Doctor? | |
 If you have a question about the health of your electrical system, surge protection or would like to investigate a little "plastic surgery", ask the doctor: Click and send your question to info@theshockdoctors.ca.
|
|
|
What's on tap this month?
PROPERLY PROTECTING SENSITIVE ELECTRONICS FROM POWER
If home theatres, computers, microwave ovens, or other sensitive electronics are under the tree this year, make sure your home is equipped with surge protection. It only takes a zap and a pop to lose them all. The average home has approximately $8000 of sensitive electronics at risk from surges.
For the entire month of December, we will rebate the entire HST on ALL surge products and services. | |
|
|
Next month is the final semester of the School of Surge. Topic: "termite surges" - a small, relentless internal plague.
Merry Christmas! 
|
|
|
|
|
|
