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A typical home or office electrical system is not designed to protect and
power sensitive electrical devices like computers, printers, fax machines. If these
devices are not properly protected they can become damaged. The type of problems caused
by electricity related damage include data loss or worse a computer, printer or other
device that no longer functions properly. You can save yourself money and time if you
follow some of my suggestions in this article. Have a great day, Tom
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| Protect your computer against electrical sags or brownouts,
surges and spikes. These types of electrical issues can cause the need for
expensive repair and data/information loss from your computer hard drive. The
supply of electricity delivered to your home (and business) is not constant.
A typical home or office electrical system does not have a means to regulate the
short term peaks and valleys in the electricity it delivers. The circuit breakers
and fuses used in typical home and office electrical systems are designed to
protect against extreme electrical conditions. Home and office electrical systems
are typically not designed to meet the electrical power needs of computers and
other sensitive electronic devices.
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Complete electrical power loss (a blackout) can be caused by lightning strikes to utility
transformers and or lines. Additional causes of blackouts are usually the result of
human intervention including traffic (where a utility pole is struck by a vehicle) or
other accidents or an overloaded circuit in the home or building. Complete electrical
power loss (blackout) or power sags can also be the result of the power companies
inability to produce enough power to meet demands.
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A "Sag" or "brownout" is a reduction of the optimal electrical level (voltage) your
computer or other devices require to function properly. This could cause your computer
to freeze/lockup. You may also notice your monitors display screen shrink or appear wavy
and or computer system shutdown (crash) possibly resulting in the loss or corruption of
what is stored on your computers hard drive.
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Surges, short term pulses of high voltage electricity can damage your computer
and computer peripherals like printers, scanners, modems, network hubs/switches.
Damaging electrical spikes (transients) can enter your computer through the power cord
you plug it in with, the telephone or cable line to a modem and any network cable. Some
electrical spikes and surges are generated inside your home or office. These types of
spikes and surges can be caused when a major appliance turns on or off
(Examples: microwave, refrigerator, air conditioner, heating system, washing machine)
or by office copiers or laser printers. Continual exposure to spikes and surges can
reduce the life expectancy of the internal circuitry within your computer and
peripherals.
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Depending on the electrical system in your home or office you may even hear the
result of an electrical spike caused when an appliance turns on or off. For example,
you might hear a short popping sound in your computer's audio speakers. Other
electrical system related problems may manifest themselves as visual artifacts when
viewing your computer monitor. For example, you may see a wavy or blurriness across your
computer monitor when a major appliance runs. Some surge suppressing devices can also
"condition" the electricity and minimize some of these problems. Any surge suppressing
device you buy should also filter electrical "noise". This is often listed as "RFI/EMI
filtering" in the product documentation. RFI stands for Radio Frequency Interference and
EMI stands for Electro Magnetic Interference.
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Lightning causes the types of electrical spikes and surges that are the most dangerous
to your computer and attached peripherals. Lightning does not have to directly hit
a power or phone line to cause a surge or spike. If lightning strikes near a power
or phone line it can induce a surge or spike by its proximity to the line (inductance).
If the surge generated as the result of a lightning strike is allowed to pass to
your computer it can destroy your modem, or terminal adapter for an ISDN or DSL
service, adjacent expansion boards and the motherboard (main circuit board of
your computer). Anyone who has worked as a computer technician can tell you how
often they see damage done to computers from electrical system surges and spikes.
How do you protect yourself?
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