You use electricity every day without really thinking about its presence. But the simple fact is that electricity is dangerous. There is an average of 20 deaths per year via unintentional electrocution.

This illustrates why it is important to be careful when working with or simply using electricity.

Perhaps the most important thing you can do to protect yourself and your family is to have a yearly electrical inspection completed. You can click this link to contact a reputable electrician and start the process today.

But, it’s not just you that needs protecting! We live in a digital age where practically everything you use consumes electricity. Your cell phone, kitchen appliances and even your car will not function without electricity. However, all of these items can also be damaged beyond repair by an overload of electricity.

In many cases you won’t know that a surge has happened; but any device that is connected to the mains power will and it can fry their circuits. There are many causes of power surges but only one effective method of preventing them; that’s using a surge protection device.

Types Of Surge Protection

There are two main types of surge protection:

1.Socket Based

Socket Based
You’ve probably seen the extension cables that have an on and off switch in them. In fact some of these extensions actually have power surge protection built into them. Their job is to regulate the flow of power to the appliances that are plugged in.

You can have a surge protector plugged into your socket which offers protection to just one device or one that gives protection to 4 or 5 devices.

This is the cheapest option and is great if you have a specific device you need to protect; such as a computer, your internet box or even your latest iPhone.

2.Supply Based

Supply Based
A better method is to have a SPD fitted to your supply meter. These are small devices that look very similar to a traditional trip switch. In fact they take the place of the trip switch in your main circuit board.

Their role is also to regulate the flow of electricity; but they can do it to an entire circuit. This allows them to protect multiple items at once. Of course they still operate as a safety trip switch if the circuit shorts or some other fault occurs.

Although this is a more expensive option and should be fitted by a qualified electrician; it is definitely the better option. You can protect the most important circuits first and then gradually put this surge protector onto all your circuits.

It won’t just protect you from getting an electric shock, or you gadgets from being fried. It will also help to protect you against surges that can cause fires. These can be because of old wiring or because a rodent has bitten through your wires; avoiding it turning into a house fire is a good idea.

It’s worth noting that a surge protection switch costs approximately $50; that’s significantly less than replacing any one of your appliances.