When a concerned mother came to her daughter’s school to review surveillance video that would confirm or dispel her fears about whether her daughter might have been harmed at school, she was told the video had been deleted in a “freak accident” according to a news story in Delaware Online. School staff reported that there had been a power surge in the days just after the alleged incident that wiped data from the hard drive of the school’s surveillance system. Months later, even after enlisting the help of the security company that had sold the system to the school, officials were still unable to produce the video or determine if it would ever be possible to do so.

Protection against transient surges is only as good as the quality of the surge protector. Even if an electrical grid never experiences a massive transient surge, the hundreds of daily surges slowly deteriorate the surge device. It’s important to remember that these devices need to be replaced because faulty SPDs can create as many issues as not having a device installed at all. At DITEK, there are both AC Power Products and Low Voltage Products that have indicators built in that show if they’re ready for replacement. Some also have an alarm that sounds when it’s time to replace, but more often than not, a dedicated person needs to visually inspect each device.