What is Surge Protection?
As more and more devices in our homes become ‘smart’ with internal components that are vulnerable to surges in electricity the need for Surge Protection Devices (SPDs) has increased. An electric car is probably the most expensive ‘smart’ device that you can have plugged in at home and so it’s pretty sensible to make sure that both your home charger and your car are protected from electrical surges.
How does it work?
Surge Protection devices work a bit like a sponge, they are designed to provide path of least resistance to soak up a surge on the electrical network (e.g. one caused by a lightning strike) and direct the surge into the SPD rather than into a sensitive piece of electrical equipment such as your car.
Do I have to have one installed?
No. Under the electrical regulations you can choose to opt out of having a Surge Protection Device fitted. 95% of customers choose to have surge protection installed and we include an SPD as standard in all of our installations. There are occasions where SPD may already be installed in your home e.g. if you’ve recently had some other electrical work done and in these cases you can either have a second one added or choose to opt out.
What causes electrical surges?
These are nearly always caused by something external to your property. Lightening strikes are a common cause as well as faults and re-connections in the electrical grid for example if your electricity is turned back on after a power cut this can cause a momentary spike or surge in the supply to your property.