Electrical Guides From the Field
Surge damage prevention is one of those topics I bring up on almost every home inspection I do — and almost every homeowner looks at me like I’m overselling them something. Then I show them the fried circuit board inside their HVAC control unit, or the dead smart TV that stopped working two weeks after … Read more
Last spring I walked through a house where a single lightning strike had taken out the refrigerator, both garage door openers, the smart thermostat, and a brand-new 65-inch TV — all in one shot. The homeowner had point-of-use surge strips on the TV and the computer. None of it mattered. That’s the reality of transient … Read more
Last spring, I inspected a house in suburban Ohio where the homeowner had spent nearly $4,000 replacing a refrigerator, a smart TV, and a whole-home HVAC control board — all fried in a single lightning strike. When I opened the panel, there was no whole-home surge protection anywhere. There was, however, a $12 power strip … Read more
Last spring, I inspected a home where a single lightning strike had taken out the refrigerator, two smart TVs, a gaming console, and the homeowner’s home office computer. Total loss: roughly $6,800 in electronics. Every room had power strips. Some even had strips labeled “surge protector” right on the box. None of it mattered. That’s … Read more