Protecting Your Sensitive Electronic Equipment

Barring accidents or other unforeseen events, the “quality” of the electricity available in your home or business is relatively constant. That’s why appliances and light bulbs that function in California also work in Pennsylvania. It’s also why the old radio you found in the attic still plays and electric clocks keep time.

Like any product that is mass-produced and shipped long distances, electricity varies slightly, even when the system that makes and delivers it is operating normally. The slight variations in electric power delivered to homes and businesses do not affect electricity’s performance in most applications.

But some modern electronic appliances, like computers, VCR’s, clock radios and microwave ovens, are sensitive to even slight variations in electric power - blips that did not affect appliances from yesteryear.

The cause of this new sensitivity is microprocessors, the electronic “brains” now installed in nearly every appliance found in today’s homes and businesses. These miniature circuits operate at very low voltages and require precise, constant power to work properly. Brief power disruptions (lasting less than a second) can cause them to shut down, or, to use a modern term, lose data.

To protect microprocessor-controlled devices and ensure they continue to work properly, the electricity that powers them may be “conditioned.”

Surge protection tailors electricity so its properties remain constant. Like other technologies, power-conditioning equipment varies widely in sophistication and price. It includes simple plug-in units to protect home electronic gear as well as stand-by generator systems used by hospitals and essential businesses so they can continue operating should power be disrupted.

Mother Nature may affect electricity through wind, lightning and storms. Activity at neighboring homes or businesses, and events in the home or business where the problems occur can also create power disturbances.

Lightning

Fuzzy TV Reception

Lock the Doors

Common Home Problems

Useful Terms