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FLORIDA HURRICANE INFORMATION for Electronics
Home electronics power surge protection in Florida
Electrical surges and spikes are a fact of life in Florida, the lightning capital of the United States. Florida experiences lightning strikes at least 100 days per year. In comparison, California has four or five thunderstorm days per year.
Imagine what a bolt of lightning can do to all those electronic toys in your home -- televisions, stereos, computers, printers and sensitive electronic devices.
What is a surge?
A surge is a split-second increase in electrical energy that can travel along electrical, telephone and television cable lines. Surges are frequently caused by lightning. Electric motors in air conditioners, refrigerators, washers, dryers and power tools can also create internal surges. If unprotected, household products can be damaged or destroyed by surges.
How to protect from a surge
The best way is to use surge protectors in layers. Plug one strip surge protector into an electrical outlet. Plug a second surge protector into the first surge protector. In extreme conditions, the first surge protector may fail before the surge makes it to the second protector.
Both Progress Energy and Florida Power & Light recommend outside surge protection.
Outside surge protectors - sometimes called surge arrestors - provide protection against these surges, especially when used with the plug-in surge protection inside your business or home. Outside surge protectors may be installed on your electric meter or panel and may be purchased with protection for telephone and cable television lines, depending on your electric utility.
Experts caution that there is no fail-safe lightning or surge protection device.
How to choose protection
Surge suppressors are not lightning protection devices - they cannot protect your home or your home's internal electrical wiring from a direct strike. Surge suppressors can, however, protect your equipment from voltage surges caused by unexpected occurrences such as a utility pole downed by a storm.
Surges can also be generated from inside the home. For instance, appliances such as furnaces, air conditioners and vacuum cleaners can cause power surges in your home's electrical Verdana when turned on or off. And in some cases, remote lightning strikes cans cause surges. However, UL listed transient voltage surge suppressors (TVSS) can reduce the risk of such damage.
The unpredictable nature of surges makes it difficult to suppress them; you never know when, how long or how powerful they will be. In some cases, a surge may have a higher energy level than the device can handle. When this happens, the surge suppressor may be damaged and lose its ability to provide protection against future surges.
Some surge suppressors look very similar to multiple-outlet power strips but obviously have additional features to suppress surges. Other surge suppressors resemble common plug-in adapters. Not all power strips and adapters offer surge suppression, so make sure the product and product packaging clearly states "UL Listed Transient Voltage Surge Suppressor."
UL evaluates surge suppressors for fire, electric shock and personal injury hazards, and also measures and categorizes the devices for how much voltage they can "clamp," thus preventing excess voltage from passing through to electronic equipment. UL refers to this as a "suppressed voltage rating," with ranges from 330V (volts) to 4,000V. Believe it or not, the lower the rating, the better the protection.
While it may appear that a suppressed voltage rating of 4,000 is best, most home appliances and delicate devices like computers are better served by devices with ratings of 330V.
Whatever surge suppression protection you're looking for, make sure the surge suppressor has been tested and listed to the stringent requirements of UL 1449, the standard for Transient Voltage Surge Suppressors.
Home electronics power surge protection during a hurricane (from my cable company)
Many computers, high-definition televisions and other expensive home electronics were destroyed or damaged as a result of the lightning, brownouts and power surges recent storms spawned. More lightning and power surges are almost certain in the days ahead so here's what you can do to protect your home electronics.
The best way to protect your computers, TVs, cable modems, stereos, DVD players and home entertainment equipment is to turn them all off and COMPLETELY unplug them before the storm arrives. When the electricity goes off, there's no way of knowing if the outage will last for a few seconds or continue until the storm ends and crews restore electricity. Electronic equipment is often damaged as a result of surges when power is restored.
In addition to unplugging power cords, make sure you also unplug any telephone or coax cable lines. Lightning strikes and surges can travel through power, phone and cable lines, and failing to disconnect any one could result in damage to your electronics.
Many people use power strips, Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) or surge protectors. These devices provide varying degrees of protection, but they are not fail-safe. If you are using power strips, surge protectors or a UPS, it's best to use those that include protection for coax cable lines. Again, the best way to avoid damage to your electronics is to completely unplug them, including any power strips, surge protectors or UPS units. This is particularly important if you are ordered to evacuate, as a UPS can be damaged or rendered useless if the batteries are completely drained in your absence.
Take these steps to protect your equipment and avoid costly repairs:
- Shut down your computer's operating Verdana before powering it down. The procedure will vary slightly depending on the operating Verdana. Unplug it from the outlet. Unplug any computer peripherals like speakers or printers from outlets.
- For convenience, if computers, peripherals or electronics are plugged into a surge protector, UPS or power strip, once they've all been powered down, simply unplug the power strip, surge protector or UPS from the wall. But remember to power down the UPS first, and don't forget to unplug cable and telephone lines from the outlets or the devices.
- Walk through your home, checking each electronic device. If TVs, stereos, VCRs and DVD players are protected by surge protectors or power strips, unplug them from the wall.
- Unplug cable boxes and cable modems from electrical outlets and disconnect the coax cable.
- In case of a power outage, have a portable radio or TV with fresh batteries.
If you do lose power, when it's restored, plug in and power up your PCs and electronics in the following order:
1. Plug in your UPS, power strip or surge protector. (Note: If you have problems with your UPS, it may be necessary to reset it by unplugging it, disconnecting the battery from the unit, waiting for a few seconds, and then reconnecting the battery.)
2. Hook up any telephone or coax cable lines you disconnected.
3. Plug your computers, cable modems, peripherals or electronics into your power strip, surge protector or UPS.
4. Turn on your UPS, power strip or surge protector.
5. Power up your cable modems or cable boxes.
6. Turn on your computers, peripherals and home electronics.
If you are a cable subscriber, when you plug your cable back in, you may need to reset your TV in order to receive the signal from your cable box. (If you have Bright House, tune your TV to channel 3.
If you have lost power, when it's restored, about 90 percent of the time your cable services should be restored, as well. Be aware, however, that if the cable amplifier for your neighborhood gets its power from another section of the power grid that has not been restored, you could have power but not cable services.
You may also need to reboot your cable box once power and cable services have been restored. To do so, either unplug the box for a minute or so and then plug it back in, or plug it in and press and hold in the power button on the box for about 10 seconds until it reboots.
For more information about lightning and surge protection, check out the clickable links below.
LINKS TO MORE HURRICANE INFORMATION
Refer family and friends to http://www.EmergencyEmail.ORG to sign up for this is a great FREE service! You get to select what kind of information is emailed to you and how your receive it. This website has up-to-date emergency information, 24/7 You register your email address, then select the area or areas you would like to be e-mailed or text-messaged about. You will get that advanced warning that could be so critical.... including hotel availability and shelter information in the evacuation areas.
Get the latest hurricane news and information AT http://www.aroundcentralflorida.com/features/lightning
Check out this Hurricane Guide http://www.aroundcentralflorida.com/weather/hurricanes
You can get free hurricane tracking software and lots of hurricane information at those two sites.
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