Do you live in an area that is frequented by rainfall and thunderstorms throughout the year? Even if not, does your home experience power surges one too many times in a while? They all do, regardless of whatever weather conditions your area may experience. Power surges are the one troubling reason why our home electronics can get damaged, and even cause electronic rust without any outward warning.
What Causes Power Surges?
So what can cause power surges in our homes? It could be anything from natural to unnatural causes alike. For instance, lightning can cause major power surges that can damage electronics within seconds.
Other than that, trees or animals interfering with any power lines or cables can set off a surge, not to mention frequent power outages as well. Electronics and wiring themselves may cause a power surge – faulty or any damaged wiring, and electronics that are high-powered or require more voltage than the outlet can supply.This is a good enough reason to get a home generator to power most of your essential electronics once your electricity goes out. You can easily find the best home generators online.
How do you spot a power surge or know whether it is what damaged your electronics? There are tell-tale signs. You know the moment your lights flicker like you’re in some horror movie? That’s a power surge occurring, not a ghost trying to mess with you. Another sign and an obvious one is a bad odor as if something is burning. It is usually the electronic or appliance’s microchips or wiring that’s frying in the process.
Why Get A Surge Protection Plan For Your Home?
It’s simple – to SAVE YOUR ELECTRONICS! Power surges can damage any electronics in your house, which means chargers, laptops, refrigerators, lights, thermostats, sprinklers, you name it. Anything that is plugged into an outlet or directly to the wiring of the house is at risk of damage from a surge. And we all know how Americans need lightning protection, considering a lot of our states experience frequent lightning – one of the main sources of a power surge.
Not only do we face the problem of damage to our electronic devices, but an additional reason to signing up for a surge protection plan is because the damage to the device means repair or replacement costs. Repairing a damaged electronic like your air conditioners, TVs, refrigerators or any other heavy-duty appliance can rack up a bill of hundreds of dollars. And if you were to replace the damaged electronic, then it would cost you even more.
Save your electronics, and save your money!
What a Power Surge Protection Plan Looks Like
A power surge protection plan comes at a very affordable rate – like $8.99/month by First Energy Home, and covers the repair cost of electronic devices and appliances damaged due to a power surge. Surely, insurance could protect in case of any damage, but that depends on the policy you’ve signed up for and the deductible can often amount up to the repair or replacement cost. Surge protection plans, however, have no deductibles.
Here is a list of products that the majority of Surge Protection plans cover:
- Televisions
- Refrigerators
- Washing machine and dryers
- Laptops
- Air conditioners
- Microwaves
- Gaming consoles
- Smart Home devices such as voice assistants, smart lights, etc.
- Electronic stoves
- And many more appliances and electronics!
How Much Of a Necessity Is It Really?
You may choose to rely on your insurance, or just luck and not subscribe to any surge protection plans, but it is recommended that households subscribe to such subscriptions. Especially those that live in areas prone to events that frequently cause power surges.
Some may think an alternative like plug-in surge protectors can do the job, but here’s the catch with these said devices. Plug-in surge protectors tend to lose their effectiveness over time, making them useless in the long term. And having to replace them for every important electronic in your home would be quite costly. A surge protection plan saves hundreds of dollars in your pockets in case of any damage or repair, all for a very affordable monthly fee.
Think about it for yourself!