What is the homeowner’s No. 1 complaint regarding his HVAC system? It’s downtime. What is the No. 1 cause of downtime? Other than poor maintenance or old age of the equipment, the leading cause is power quality.
The utilities thus recommend protection against power quality problems.
Each home experiences 300-plus potentially damaging electrical surges per year. Home appliances and HVAC equipment, which depend on electronics, are sensitive to these surges. These units are a costly investment for the homeowner, and there typically is no protection.
A surge is a high-amplitude, short-duration electrical fluctuation that can cause harm to electrical, electromechanical, and electronic equipment. Surges are caused by lightning, utility events, and internal events:
Lightning is the most obvious and most sensational type of surge. Lightning can travel up to 1/2 mile from where it strikes. Nothing can prevent a direct strike. Utility events consist of crossover of phases, capacitor switching, grid shifting, inductive loads, and open neutrals.
Internal events in the home, however, are the most likely source of a surge. A General Electric (GE) and National Power Labs (NPL) study shows that 65 percent to 80 percent of transient surges are caused internally from:
These events can result in the three D’s of surge problems: degradation (of equipment components), destruction, and breakdown downtime.
Ask a Penguin Air Representative on how you could Protect Your Home from electrical surges.
