Whole-home surge protection in the Phoenix Valley

A surge is a brief spike in voltage, far above the 120 or 240 volts your home is built for. It lasts a fraction of a second, but it can cook the circuit boards inside an AC condenser, a variable-speed pool pump, a refrigerator or a TV.

A whole-home surge protector, also called a surge protective device or SPD, mounts at your main panel or meter-main. When voltage spikes, it sends the excess energy to your grounding system instead of letting it run through every circuit in the house. It covers equipment wired to that panel that you could never plug into a power strip, like the AC condenser, the range and the pool equipment.

Many units have indicator lights that show whether the protection is still active. A device that has absorbed a large surge can wear out, so it is worth a glance after a big storm.

Monsoon season runs from June 15 to September 30, and it brings lightning, dust storms and high winds across the Valley. A strike does not have to hit your house to cause trouble. Lightning that hits a power line, a transformer or the ground nearby can push a surge into your home through the electric service, cable lines or phone lines.

Storms also cause surges you never see. When wind knocks lines together, when a transformer fails, or when APS or SRP switches equipment on the grid to restore power, the voltage on the line can spike. The moment power comes back after an outage can bring a spike of its own, which is one reason to unplug sensitive electronics when the lights go out.

Some surges start inside the house. Large motors like the AC compressor and pool pump create small spikes every time they cycle on and off, and over years of long Phoenix summers those can wear on sensitive electronics.

In many Valley homes, the most expensive equipment on the electrical system is the air conditioner and the pool equipment. Newer AC systems with variable-speed compressors and communicating thermostats rely on control boards, and so do variable-speed pool pumps, heaters and automation panels. Those boards are sensitive to surges, and replacing one in the middle of July is no fun.

Pool equipment pads add their own risk. They sit outdoors, often on their own subpanel at the end of a long wire run that can pick up surges along the way. For homes with a pool subpanel or a detached garage, we may recommend a second protector at that panel. Sometimes one device at the main panel is enough.

Solar inverters, EV chargers and smart appliances also benefit from protection at the panel. If you have solar or plan to add it, we place the surge device so it leaves room for the breakers you will need later.

A panel-mounted device is the first layer. It brings a big surge down to a level your wiring can handle, but some voltage still gets through. Surges can also come in on cable, internet and phone lines that never pass through the panel at all.

We recommend quality plug-in surge protectors for TVs, computers, gaming systems, routers and anything else with a sensitive circuit board. If your equipment connects to coax or a network cable, look for a protector that covers those lines too. Plug-in protectors wear out like panel units do, so replace them when the protection light goes dark or after a major surge.

The two layers work better together than either one does alone. While we are at your home, we are happy to point out which outlets and devices deserve the plug-in kind.

Nothing stops a direct lightning strike. If lightning hits your house, a tree next to it or the service lines right at your meter, the energy is far beyond what any residential device is built to handle. A surge protector improves your odds against nearby strikes and everyday grid surges, but it is not a guarantee, and anyone who promises complete protection from lightning is overselling.

It also does not replace good grounding. A surge device needs a solid path to earth to do its job, which is why we check your grounding and bonding first. Many slab homes in Arizona rely on a concrete-encased electrode, known as a Ufer ground, and some older homes have grounding that was never brought up to date.

When a strong storm is on the way, the safest move for your most valuable electronics is still to unplug them before it arrives.

The best time is before monsoon season starts on June 15. If you are replacing an AC system or a pool pump this spring, protect the new equipment at the same time instead of after the first storm.

It also makes sense whenever your panel is already open: during a panel upgrade, a solar or battery tie-in, an EV charger install or new pool equipment. And if a storm has already taken out a control board or two, call before the next one rolls in.