Whole house circuit breakers are a common approach to providing shock and surge protection throughout your home. Are they worth it, or should you consider alternatives? We think they’re valuable, and we’ll explain why you should consider them, even for upgrading in an older home.
What is the Purpose of Whole House Circuit Breakers?
Surge protection needs are hard to identify. Some houses have more surges than others. Whole house surge protection is recommended for any home electrical system, new or old. Since there are many points of surge protection, you have the choice of safeguarding them either individually or with a comprehensive whole-house system.
On an individual, piece-meal basis, you can install outlets for sensitive devices, whereas a whole-house breaker protects everything directly from the electrical panel. Remember that the primary purpose of this is to reduce the impact of surges that can damage household electrical devices.
As a rule of thumb, when it comes to protection: the more the better. Protection diverts extra electrical current to go into the ground rather than your expensive phone or TV. This is even more important in modern times when you consider the greater electrical complexity of all the things we use.
Surges and Local Compliance Matters
Any time you turn the power off/on, you can create a transient surge. So, we recommend addressing every level of analysis rather than taking chances and assuming you won’t have a problem.
How do you install surge protection? Where does it go? While your power company can put it directly on your power meter for a small fee, we do something in addition to that on your electrical panel. This actually provides more comprehensive and precise surge protection.
Can you have more than one point of the surge? Yes, which is why it doesn’t hurt to have more than you need in light of all the sensitive equipment exposed.
Surge Protection Standardization for Home Building?
Surge protection isn’t completely standard, according to the law, but we expect codes and regulations to move closer to that. Surges are more of a product concern than a safety issue, so you’ll see lots of different regulation requirements. However, we anticipate that local ordinances will embrace surge protection standardization in places like Kansas City sooner rather than later.
As a friendly reminder, if any of the electrical jargon comes across as confusing, we have a useful reference source to help with that. You can read over our homeowner’s guide to electrical terms for a better grasp of some of the terms we use. You don’t have to be an electrician to make smart decisions about electricity in your home. Once you know the basics, it’ll be easier to converse and interact with your local contractor.
New Houses and Unpredictable Surge Situations
For new homes, we work with many builders who have set packages they use to put surge protection into the panels. Sometimes the surge frequency in a brand new home can be sporadic, which might not show up for a while. That doesn’t mean it’s not there, though.
You’re bound to worry more about it when it surfaces in the form of fast-burning bulbs or poor-performing appliances. Sometimes when we encounter those problems, we can sense there’s a surge issue, but it’s hard to tell for sure. When we experiment with surge protectors, however, they seem to solve the problem.
For that reason alone, we recommend obtaining a full home safety inspection and considering whole-house protection.
Teague Electric Installs Whole House Circuit Breakers for Homes in Kansas City
When Harold Teague founded Teague Electric in the 1970s, he devoted himself to uncompromising workmanship and punctual customer service. That’s what we offer to this day. Therefore, if you’re having trouble with malfunctioning appliances and suspect surge difficulties, you can trust us to find and implement a solution.
Don’t forget that we offer installation and repair services to residential and commercial customers alike.
These are the basics of whole-house circuit breakers, which you can learn more about whenever you contact us for expert electrical guidance and support.