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Surge protection is considered an essential element of every electrical installation. While it is not necessarily always top of mind when planning or updating electrical systems, surge protection represents a valuable opportunity for electricians and their suppliers. Surge protection devices are an easy add-on to existing and new systems that can be easily justified to end-users. They also offer big margins that can quickly boost profits. New NEC Codes are further driving the demand for surge protection because they are required for compliance. However, understanding and conveying the importance of surge protection is just half the battle. It’s imperative to select the right surge protection provider with proven product reliability and the support necessary to help ensure increased sales and revenue.
Read More: The Importance of Electrical Surge Protection
This informative guide is designed to help electrical suppliers and distributers understand the business potential of surge protection as well as the benefits afforded by working with the right surge protection partner.
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Read more: The Electrical Suppliers' Guide to Surge Protection
As an experienced HVAC installer, you may already be aware of the critical protection that surge protection devices provide for your customers’ HVAC systems. And with the increasing frequency of power disruptions and their unpredictability, there’s a growing need to install surge protection solutions to ensure that these systems remain up and running when needed most.
This informative guide is designed to help you answer one critical question, why surge protection? Both from a customer’s and installer’s point of view. Armed with this information, you can confidently educate your customers on the exciting value proposition that HVAC surge protection provides, while increasing sales and customer retention.
Why Surge Protection?
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Read more: An Installers Guide to Surge Protection for HVAC Systems
Whether it be a new security system, pool, or home theater, luxury homeowners spare no expense when it comes to outfitting their home with the latest electronics. But as these systems are installed and even brought together for entire smart home automation, there is a hidden danger lurking – power surges.
A single power surge has the potential to take out multiple electronic systems within seconds. This means hot tubs, video surveillance, smart lighting, elevators, walk-in wine coolers, HVAC systems, washers, dryers, home theatres all destroyed within the blink of an eye. For luxury homeowners, the cost to repair or replace these systems could be in the millions of dollars.
So, what can be done and why does this matter?
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Read more: Everything You Need to Know About Surge Protection for Luxury Homes
On the surface, parking garage structures appear to be unassuming concrete structures – sturdy and built to withstand major environmental damage. However inside, parking garages house a number of complex and sensitive electrical systems. It is these very systems that owners rely on to run their business. Access control, electronic gates, ticket/pay stations, video surveillance, lighting, and other costly systems all play an important role in the day-to-day function of a parking garage. If any one of these systems stop functioning, it could potentially hurt the business, leading to lost profits and even liability judgements.
That is exactly why parking garages need surge protection.
Power surges and spikes can cripple parking garage operations in seconds. As a systems integrator/installer, it is important that you too understand the risk of power surges in parking garages as a means of effectively communicating the value of surge protection solutions to your clients. Because many parking garage owners and operators overlook surge protection for their business, it is important they (and you) know where to start.
Here are 3 ways you can make the case for parking garage surge protection to your customers:
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Read more: Communicating the Value of Surge Protection for Parking Garages
Downtime is a disastrous word for any business. No matter what caused it, when downtime strikes, businesses lose revenue – often thousands of dollars or more in a single day – and it can be difficult or impossible to make up, even when operations restart quickly. To protect against these losses, proactive business owners and managers take steps to monitor factors that are under their control, and keep their eyes and ears open to factors outside of their control that could develop into downtime situations.
One factor that is often overlooked is the risk of power surges and spikes to a business. When downtime is the result of a power surge, the consequences can be much worse than a power outage, and much longer-lasting. Surges can damage or completely destroy sensitive electronic equipment such as POS and security systems, causing data losses, and resulting in downtime while the systems are repaired or replaced. When a POS system stops functioning, you can’t take orders or process payments. If a critical system such as a fire alarm or HVAC controller is damaged, it may not be possible to operate until it is repaired and inspected. If refrigeration or frozen storage area controllers are damaged, this can result in spoiled cold storage inventories and additional consequences. Lost revenue, inventories, and data are just some of the losses a business can experience as a result of a power surge.
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Read more: Protecting Businesses from Lightning
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From physical security to business intelligence, there is no shortage of use cases for access control systems. Housing complexes utilize access control to keep non-residents out, data centers apply access control to protect the valuable information inside, and airports install such systems to ensure only those with the right credentials have access to highly secure areas. Given the seriousness of these needs, it is essential to keep access control systems operational at all times, as the alternative can plunge organizations into chaos.
Unfortunately, most organizations do not plan for their access control system to go down. Power events that can disrupt service are often unforeseen, but all too common. Every unprotected electronic security system, including access control, is likely to incur some damage during its lifetime from damaging power surges and spikes. While these electrical events will not cause every system to fail, every unprotected system has an increased chance of failure versus a fully protected system.
When an access control system fails, the chaos experienced across every industry is unique. Here is what that chaos could look like in a variety of industries and how to prevent such fallout:
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Read more: Access Denied! Preventing Access Control System Failures
Video surveillance has come a long way from the grainy images and low-tech capabilities of systems past. Video analytics, AI edge computing, and IoT connectivity continue to amplify the applications of video surveillance beyond what was once possible. Today, surveillance systems are as ubiquitous as cell phones, but also represent a significant investment for the entities that employ them. For most entities, ensuring surveillance system uptime isn’t just an objective, it is a necessity.
Many organizations rely on real-time video surveillance to prevent crimes such as theft and property damage. Others use video surveillance to prosecute crimes or reduce liability, as is the case with false injury claims. Even highly regulated businesses, such as casinos, are legally not permitted to operate if their surveillance system is not workng. In each of these cases, surveillance system downtime could lead to potentially millions in lost revenue, damage to the brand, and/or costly regulatory fines.
Perhaps more importantly, an inoperable surveillance system poses a significant threat to security operations. If a system is unable to perform its primary surveillance functions, crimes can go both unnoticed and unprosecuted. This degrades an organization’s overall security posture, putting people and property at risk. The fact is, some damages cannot be calculated in terms of dollars and cents.
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Read more: How to Reduce Surveillance System Downtime
A decade ago, approximately 130,000 electric vehicles (EVs) were sold worldwide over the course of a year. Today, that many are sold over the course of a week. The demand for EVs shows no signs of slowing as governments and citizens look to do their part to curb emissions and their reliance on gas.
But electric vehicles still rely on something – electric currents – to keep their wheels turning. Charging stations, both public and private, are the lifeblood of the EV movement and in order to keep up with demand, EV charging infrastructure must not only increase in numbers, but also in reliability.
Read more about the rise of EVs, EV charging, and the need for surge protection
Like any sensitive electronic equipment, EV chargers are at risk from damaging power surges and spikes. Such power disruptions can lead to costly damages, complete charger failure, and even permanent damage to the EV itself. As if that wasn’t enough, here are 3 additional reasons why you should protect your EV charger using layered surge protection.
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Read more: 3 Reasons to Protect Your Electric Vehicle Charging Station
Power surges and spikes are often overlooked even though they present a direct threat to fire alarm systems. Disruptive power events can severely damage or destroy fire alarm systems without notice, leaving many organizations to believe their fire alarm system is functioning when, in reality, it is not. This false sense of security puts lives, property, and equipment at risk. If a failed system goes unnoticed until a fire is underway, the results could be catastrophic.
Surge protective devices (SPDs) exist to protect fire alarm systems from such risks but are not without their own pitfalls. Many SPDs are difficult to install, and with multiple SPDs required for complete system protection, there are several opportunities for error. There is also little to no code guidance for proper SPD installation, leading many installers to take their best guess on proper installation practices.
A surge protector is only as good as the installation, which is why modern SPDs have evolved to address several of the issues plaguing traditional SPDs. As fire alarm systems and connected equipment get smarter, it only makes sense that the devices protecting them do too.
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Read more: Simplifying Surge Protection for Fire Alarm Systems
Climate control is an often overlooked, but is an essential element of modern life. From keeping us comfortable in our homes to powering industries like food processing and pharmaceuticals, we depend on HVAC systems to function in almost any climate. Sometimes, it isn’t until one of these systems fail that we realize how much we take indoor heating and cooling for granted.
Another overlooked fact of HVAC systems is that they tend to be one of the largest energy expenses of any home or business. In fact, air conditioners use about 6% of all the electricity produced in the United States. As such, HVAC systems are vulnerable to damaging power surges and spikes, which can take a system out of service over time or all at once. Power disruptions are a leading contributor of HVAC system downtime, causing damage to costly equipment and interrupting daily life.
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Read more: How to Reduce HVAC System Downtime
Surge protectors function as a shield, protecting your important electronic systems and devices from common power surges and spikes. As a vital part of their useful life, surge protectors absorb sudden rushes of electrical power – from utility grid switching down to the hundreds of small power surges spikes that occur every day. Such spikes either cause a surge protective device (SPD) to deteriorate slowly or all at once as the SPD prevents more important systems from suffering the same fate. This self-sacrifice eventually causes a surge protector to reach end of life (EOL).
Once a surge protector has reached EOL, connected systems and devices are vulnerable to the same electrical surges and spikes the SPD was designed to protect. Since there is no average lifespan for a surge protector, it is important to inspect your SPDs regularly to verify they are still functional. There are many ways to identify when your surge protector has reached EOL depending on the type and model of SPD being used.
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Read more: How to Know When Your Surge Protector Has Reached End of Life
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For HVAC and electrical distributors, surge protection should be considered an essential element of every installation. Because many of the builders and installers who are your customers may not be aware of the benefits of surge protective devices, this could require some education. However, it is well worth the extra effort on your part. Making an informative recommendation for surge protection with each sale can build profits while increasing customer satisfaction and retention. Here are a few questions you can answer for your customers to help them adhere to best practices for HVAC and electrical system installations.
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Read more: How Electrical and HVAC Distributors Can Profit from Surge Protection
These days, many people are becoming more aware of electrical equipment efficiencies, environmental impact, total cost of ownership, break-even cost analyses, and other sophisticated economic concepts. When purchasing larger durable goods such as refrigerators, washing machines, and similar items, it is more common than ever for people to evaluate these factors – despite the fact that they were much less of an issue in the past. We applaud these new considerations, and we are sure that making them a bigger part of the purchase decision is a good direction for all involved.
Perhaps there’s no better example of this new direction than the rise of inverter-driven AC systems. These newer systems make use of improved controllers and drive systems to apply variable-capacity and variable-speed technologies to AC and heat pump equipment systems, resulting in very high efficiencies compared to older technologies. Older technologies tended to cycle between “fully on” and “fully off”, in an inefficient fashion, to respond to cooling demand. In contrast, the newer inverter-driven systems generally operate more continuously at a lower level, making small adjustments to maintain more constant temperatures in cooled areas while operating at high efficiency.
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Read more: Protecting Inverter AC Systems from Electrical Damage
We have frequently written about the importance of installing appropriate surge protection to protect vital electronic systems from damaging surges and spikes, premature failures, and downtime. As that phrase “appropriate surge protection” suggests, it is not only vital to install protection, but also to select surge protective devices (SPDs) that have the right characteristics to deliver the type of protection that will be most effective for each installation situation.
Making these choices requires a knowledge of both the type of system to be protected, and the types of electrical disturbances that could occur. It is not as simple as purchasing a single type of SPD and hooking one up to each device you have on the premises. Each type of SPD has different characteristics that can determine the type of protection it provides, and whether it will be effective for its intended purpose. Please see this solutions page for an overview of the SPD types and their typical performance characteristics.
In this article, we will focus on the basic science that defines the functionality of the three most common types of SPD elements:
- Metal Oxide Varistors (MOV)
- Silicon Avalanche Diodes (SAD)
- Gas Discharge Tubes (GDT)
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Read more: The Science Behind Surge Protectors
Adding surge protection substantially reduced both equipment losses and security downtime
When Fred Corvo arrived at Frenchman’s Creek two years ago as their new Director of Security, his top priority was to deliver a “Five Star” security environment suitable for this world-class community.
Frenchman's Creek is a private, 700-acre beach and country club community located on the southern tip of Florida. Featuring multimillion-dollar homes, championship golf courses, plentiful tennis courts, deep water marina, and an outstanding fitness center, Frenchman's Creek offers exceptional luxury at every turn.
"The homes, facilities, and amenities at Frenchman’s Creek are all designed to support the best that South Florida living can offer,” said Mr. Corvo. “Like every other element in the community, residents here also expect the best in security, absolutely the best. From my point of view, that has implications not only for the equipment we use here – cameras, recorders, emergency communications, and so on - but also for the performance and uptime of those systems.”
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Read more: DITEK Saves Money & Improves Security for South Florida's Frenchman's Creek
Modern homes in many climates depend on HVAC systems, including both heating and cooling systems, to maintain comfortable living conditions for residents. It's no surprise that these systems are often one of the most costly mechanisms in a home. HVAC systems are generally seen by their owners as rugged, substantial equipment – and they do include hardy components, including sizeable motors, pumps, blowers, and similar hardware that can be big consumers of electrical power. The cables that run to these systems are heavy-duty, and the equipment is usually made of galvanized metal and heavy castings, reinforcing this impression of ruggedness.
However, this impression can be misleading. Residential HVAC systems are controlled by low-voltage electronics that are just as vulnerable to power disruptions as other sensitive electronic equipment including computers, burglar alarms, televisions, and similar devices. If the HVAC control system is damaged by a power surge or spike, its life can be significantly shortened. It may even fail all at once without warning, taking the HVAC system out of service until the controllers can be repaired or replaced. HVAC systems are costly to replace – and the worst part is that many standard homeowner’s insurance policies (as well as HVAC equipment warranties) do not provide coverage for damage caused by damaging power surges or spikes!
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Read more: Keep Residential HVAC Systems Working with Surge Protection
Savvy managers know that surge protection is a secret weapon that can extend the life of their electronic systems, enhance system uptime, and protect against many kinds of losses, including downtime, lost sales, lost data, legal vulnerabilities, and customer dissatisfaction. There is no doubt that in today’s business and organizational environment, we depend more than ever on our electronic systems, whether they are supporting access control, video surveillance, computer networks, fire alarm systems, industrial controls, or POS systems. Basically, every type of organization needs these systems for survival. While we can all easily agree that mitigating the risks to these systems from invisible electrical surges and spikes is a critical step, the question becomes – what kind of surge protectors are right for you and your situation?
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Read more: The Best Surge Protection Technology for Your Application
Electrical standards, including new standards regarding electrical surge protection, are designed to reduce the risks from electrical hazards. For example, standards are designed to protect against electric shock, electrocution, fires, and explosions. Nonetheless, situations arise that can raise the risks – including worn or damaged electrical equipment, improper usage, among others. According to OSHA, electrical hazard recognition is one key to improving general electrical safety. Learn some key safety factors and how to reduce dangers!
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Read more: Surge Protection, Power Use and Electrical Safety*
2020 was the year of working from home. Millions of people who had been commuting to office jobs were suddenly spending their entire day parked in front of their computers in living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms and closets. Local wi-fi systems were overburdened, bandwidth was taxed and billions of extra calories were consumed.
Those who had been accustomed to working in an office environment may have discovered that they had been taking certain things for granted. Workers are typically provided with computers, phones, document management systems and other electronic devices needed to do their jobs every day. Many of these devices live on the IP network, another electronic support system provided to workers so that they can accomplish their daily tasks.
Along with that set of devices and systems came the assurance that, should something go wrong, it would be taken care of. Your computer would keep working, and if it stopped, you would be supplied with another.
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Read more: Protecting Houses from Power Events During and After a Pandemic
Every three years, committees of the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) update their recommendations for the NEC (National Electrical Code). The NEC, which is also sometimes called “NFPA 70” is the benchmark for safe electrical design and installation to protect against electrical hazards. Because of the high level of expertise and trust in the preparation of the NEC recommendations, they have historically been adopted in all 50 states of the USA. These newest 2020 requirements are no exception – they have already been adopted and are in effect in a number of states, with many more in the adoption process. Thus, the NEC requirements come to be incorporated into new residential electrical code requirements and are enforced by local building code officials. There is no doubt that the new requirements will affect every part of our country, if they haven’t already!
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Read more: NEC 2020 Requires Whole-House Surge Protection, Are You Ready?
Recreational and amusement facilities serve an important function in society, giving people a break from their work life and providing a destination for individuals and families during leisure time. These venues come in a wide variety of sizes and styles. This includes amusement parks, theme parks, gambling and gaming facilities, among others. Many of these facilities are managed or regulated to ensure safe and honest operations.
Regulated or not, every one of these facilities represents a significant investment that was made to support employment and economic activity in their communities. It is also true that these facilities are needed for both physical and mental health in a general way for the population. For these reasons, it makes very good sense to take steps to protect that investment, both for the support of the public good, and to reduce the risks to business continuity.
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Read more: Protecting Electronics in Gaming, Amusement and Recreational Facilities
