Taking precautions to protect your appliances before a storm strikes is vital in order to ensure that your appliances endure the fury of lightning. Storms are often accompanied by fierce lightning, which have the capability to destroy your appliances with just one strike. Rather than wait for the storms, here are some valuable precautions you can take to guarantee the safety of your appliances during such harsh weather:
Whole house surge protector
Lightning is essentially electricity with very high voltage. With a whole house surge protector, if there is an electric surge in the connection, the protector will automatically shut off the connection, ensuring that the excess current does not reach any of your appliances. With such equipment, you won’t have to worry about storms taking out any of your electronics and appliances.
Protect entrances of phone lines, television lines, and internet lines
The spots where such connections enter the home are perfect avenues for lightning strikes and they should also be protected to avoid accidents during storms. With appliances such as the newer refrigerator models that include an internet connection attached, it would be a good idea to install a surge protector specifically for that.
Switch of major appliance
Avoid using appliances such as the radio, washing machine, refrigerator, telephone and the television during storms. So long as the appliances are on, there is always a small chance that they can attract lightning, which might then strike directly on the appliance, wreaking havoc. If the storm does not last long according to the weatherman, then all appliances should be off until the intensity of the storm has been diffused.
Consider a service and maintenance program
In addition to the above precautions, it would also be a good idea to consider a regular service and maintenance program for all your appliances. This is how to avoid making lots of appliance repair calls, and will ensure that your appliances are always operational, and in good condition at all times.
