I want to take a few moments to talk about a whole-house surge protector. This is one I had installed by Kalahari Electrical Services. If you’re in the greater Atlanta area and want one done, their details are below.
What it does
The surge protector goes on the bottom of the panel and has a direct link to the ground. Power from the utility isn’t perfect. We’re in the Atlanta area with a lot of trees, so a tree falls and hits the line, or lightning strikes, and that can cause a surge on your main line. The protector picks that up and sends it straight to ground, so it doesn’t go into the house.
That matters because every appliance and everything on the electrical system could be affected by a surge: computers, electronics, anything like that. I’d rather have one of these put in than replace all my computers and TVs.
What Kalahari did at my house
- Whole-house surge protector at the main panel
- Two grounding rods. The existing ground was just put into the basement onto rebar, which is not good practice, so they added two rods to make sure the house is well grounded.
- A second surge protector on the AC unit
Why the AC gets its own protector
Big appliances pull a lot of power, and if something goes wrong with one, it can actually back-feed a surge into your system. With its own protector, nothing can come toward the AC unit, and nothing can be back-fed into the house from it. I’m protected on the grid side by the whole-house unit and from that appliance too.
How I check it
Once a week, when I walk around and do my trash, I just make sure the green light is on. That tells me the protector is still working.
My internet is fiber, so there’s no electrical line coming into the house that way, which takes away one more path for a surge.
Bottom line
I’d really recommend this if you own a house. Your appliances and electronics are a very expensive part of the home. If you want one done, I’d contact Kalahari Electrical Services. You can also call them at 678-665-2309.