Protect Your Property From Power Surges

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Maybe you know this story: There’s a thunderstorm. Lightning strikes nearby. The power cuts out for a moment, then returns.

But when you try to switch on the TV, it doesn’t seem to work.

In the United States, power surges are responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars of property damage every year. Surges can instantly overload and short out the circuitry of home electronics.

Over time, surges can also cause cumulative damage to your property, incrementally decreasing the lifespan of televisions, computers, stereo equipment, and anything else plugged into the wall.

Learning more about surges – what causes them and how to prevent them – can help save money and keep your property safe.

How Does A Power Surge Cause Damage?

In the United States, most homes use electrical power in the form of 120-volt, 60 Hz, single phase, alternating current.

However, the voltage is not delivered at a constant 120 volts. With alternating current, the voltage rises and falls in a predetermined rhythm. The voltage oscillates from 0 to a peak voltage of 169 volts. Most appliances and electronics used in the United States are designed to be powered by this form of generated electricity.

During a power surge, the voltage exceeds the peak voltage of 169 volts.

A spike in voltage can be harmful to appliances and electrical devices in your home. An increase in voltage above an appliance's normal operating voltage can cause an arc of electrical current within the appliance. The heat generated in the arc causes damage to the electronic circuit boards and other electrical components.

Smaller, repeated power surges may slowly damage your electronic equipment, too. Your computer or stereo may continue to function after small surges occur until the integrity of the electronic components finally erode and your television, cordless phone, or answering machine mysteriously stops working. Repeated, small power surges shorten the life of appliances and electronics.

Where Do Power Surges Come From?

There are several sources of power surges. They can originate from the electric utility company during power grid switching. A common cause of power surges – especially the most powerful surges – is lightning. Power surges can originate inside a home when large appliances like air conditioners and refrigerator motors turn on and off.

Power surges can enter a home through several pathways. In the case of lightning, it can take the path of the cable TV or satellite dish cable, through the incoming telephone lines, or through the incoming electrical service line.

How Can I Protect My Property?

Point-Of-Use Surge Protection Devices (SPDs), combined with a good grounding system, should protect your electronic and electrical appliances from most electrical surges. An SPD does not suppress or arrest a surge; it actually diverts the surge to the ground.

One familiar point-of-use surge suppressor looks like a regular plug strip. However, unless it specifically says so, don’t assume your plug strip offers surge protection.

You can also install special electrical outlets that offer surge protection. Surge protection outlets are useful in locations where there isn't room for a plug-in surge protector, such as near a countertop microwave oven.

The Two-Tiered Approach

Point-of-use devices can protect particular appliances in your home, but a more comprehensive approach to surge protection is to combine point-of-use devices with another device, like a service entrance surge protector or an electrical panel surge protector. By installing two tiers of surge protection, you’ll be able to protect your home from all but the most powerful surges.

Service Entrance Surge Protection Devices usually mount in or on your main electrical panel or at the base of the electric meter. Using a service entrance surge protection device provides protection for your entire electrical system; they protect things such as motors, lights, outlets, light switches, and all the other "hard wired" items in the house that do not plug into an electrical outlet and can't be connected to a point-of-use surge protection device. And if the power surge is created by a lightning strike or power fluctuation on the utility lines, the service entrance surge protection device can reduce the power surge to a lower level before it gets to the point-of-use surge protection device.

Service entrance surge protection devices will either be Transient Volt Surge Suppressors (TVSSs) or secondary surge arresters. It’s difficult to compare the capabilities of a TVSS to a secondary surge arrester because the two are tested differently. Consult an electrician for further advice on how to install a service entrance surge suppression device.

More To Consider

• Make sure any surge protectors you purchase are listed as UL Standard 1449. This is a national benchmark and means the product has been thoroughly tested.
• Select a point-of-use surge protector that has an indicating light and/or audible alarm to show when it needs a replacement.
• Look for SPDs that come with a manufacturer's warranty. Some warranties cover only the device; others also cover any damaged equipment connected to the device.
• Direct lightning strikes are powerful enough to overwhelm even the best surge protection; that said, the ultimate surge protection is to unplug equipment from the wall if you suspect a surge might be coming.

Information here was taken from State Farm Insurance

FOUNDATION ISSUES

UNDERSTANDING FOUNDATION PROBLEMS

Most homebuyers are careful to have a home inspector check for foundation problems before they sign purchase papers. But that shouldn’t be the last check. Recognizing early warning signs of trouble can forestall damage that costs tens of thousands of dollars or even jeopardizes the full value of a house. Luckily, some of the warning signs are easy to spot. Here’s what to look for.

 Inside hints

A floor that’s not level is one tip of a possible foundation problem. Some people can sense this easily; others never notice even when a floor sags a couple of inches.

If you’re in the latter group, there are other ways to hear your house whispering that the foundation is rising or sinking unevenly: A door begins to jam or fails to latch; cracks appear in walls, especially over doorways or windows or where walls meet ceilings; cracks open in vinyl or ceramic tile over a concrete floor. Windows that fail to budge or to close completely also hint at foundation problems, assuming the culprit isn’t just sloppy or sticky paint or rotten wood frames.

Slab foundation problems

If you have a slab foundation, a structural engineer can help determine whether these signs point to normal settling or to structural damage. Expect to pay $500-$700 for a structural engineer to inspect your foundation and provide an evaluation, and as much as $2,000 for a full set of drawings for an engineered solution.

If it’s a structural problem, your foundation is settling unevenly and has the potential to skew or pull apart the framing unless you take action. Best case: You can get the house level again just by keeping soil near the house evenly moist, either by irrigating during dry weather if you live in a damp climate or by switching to landscaping that doesn’t need irrigating if you live where it’s usually dry.

Worst case: You need to underpin the foundation with helical screws or concrete piers. Installation costs $1,200-$1,500 per pier, with one every 6 to 8 feet.

Outside, take the long view

Moving outside, check to see if your foundation is straight by sighting down the length of your foundation wall from each corner. You should see a straight line. A bulge or divot in either a block foundation or a poured concrete wall could signal that the foundation has shifted.

Check for leaning walls with a level. If the top of the foundation sticks out beyond the walls in one area, the foundation wall may have tipped. Any signs of shifting or bowing means that the soil may be expanding and contracting, putting pressure on foundation walls, and remedial steps are necessary.

The poke test

If your house has a poured perimeter foundation and it appears to be shedding sand, poke it in a few places with a sturdy screwdriver. The concrete should be so dense and hard that you do no damage. If you can excavate a hole, the concrete could be deteriorating because the mix contained dirty or salty sand, or too much water. This problem, common in homes built in the early 1900s in some parts of the country, has no remedy short of a new foundation, perhaps a $35,000 prospect.

Checking crawl spaces

In the basement or crawl space, look for foundation problems that may include a system of posts and concrete supports, or piers. Posts should stand straight and be firmly planted underneath the beams they support. Bottoms of posts should rest firmly on concrete piers.

You shouldn’t find puddles or see framing that’s wet. Check for rot by probing wood posts with a screwdriver or awl.

Puddles and other signs of moisture in a crawl space may indicate poor drainage around the perimeter foundation. Be sure that gutters aren’t plugged, and that soil slopes away from the foundation at the rate of 6 inches for every 10 horizontal feet.

Reading cracks

Concrete and block foundations usually have at least a few cracks. The trick is recognizing which are insignificant and which are serious.

As concrete cures, it shrinks slightly. Where the concrete can’t shrink evenly, it tends to crack. Cracks where there is an L-shape section, such as where a foundation stairsteps down to follow a hillside, are probably shrinkage cracks, especially if they meander and taper down to a hairline. These aren’t a structural issue, though you might need to plug them to keep the basement or crawl space dry. Hairline cracks in the mortar between concrete blocks are also rarely worth worrying about.

If you find small cracks (less than 1/16-inch wide), paint over them with a concrete waterproofing paint (about $25 a gallon). Then check periodically to see whether the paint has cracked, which means the gap is opening up under pressure.

Stairstep cracks in masonry joints are a bigger concern, especially if the wall is bulging or the crack is wider than ¼ inch. A plugged gutter or other moisture problem outside is probably exerting pressure on that part of the wall. You’ll need a structural engineer to help identify a cure, which can include bolting on steel braces ($500-$700 each, often spaced about 6 feet apart along the wall) or using epoxy to glue on straps of carbon-fiber mesh ($350-$450 each, similarly spaced). 

Horizontal cracks are most serious, and indicate that water-saturated soil outside froze and expanded, pushing in and breaking the foundation. Perhaps gutters backed up and heat was off for an extended period during especially cold weather. The consequence: You probably need a whole new foundation.

Horizontal cracks also occur because of problems with underlying soil. If you have soil that expands when damp and shrinks when dry, you face the same range of solutions as if you had a slab foundation. Hire a structural engineer to help you sort out your options.