Power surges are a major menace to business assets and operations. In a previous article, we discussed three ways that power surges can put organizations at risk, including damaging your hardware and causing outages. To prevent these issues from occurring, leverage these surge protection secrets to protect your company:
1. Look at a variety of solutions
Hardware setups vary widely across businesses, and surge protectors come in a number of options to suit these needs. Every solution provides some level of protection, but each one differs in how much and how well it defends against power spikes, CNET contributor Geoffrey Morrison stated.
Some surge suppression options might have the barest level of protection, and this likely won’t be enough to fully protect critical company systems. A capable surge suppression solution will easily manage power spikes and prevent degradation of essential hardware. Ask critical questions such as what is the let through voltage on industry standard testing or what is the peak surge current capability. This will create a better understanding of how big a hit the system can take.
Every time your HVAC system kicks on, it creates a temporary power spike.2. Watch for repeat offenders
Typically, power surges fly under the radar, but when built up over time, they can have a profound impact on equipment functionality. Organizations must pay particular attention to their large energy consuming equipment, as they can be guilty for creating larger spikes. Nationwide noted that switching on large equipment creates brief power surges. This means that every time your cooling system kicks in or you need to use the photocopier, there’s a power spike within your system. Use surge suppression at the electrical service point and point of use to protect your infrastructure and prevent damage to other critical machines.
“You’re not going to be able to avoid every outage or power spike.”
3. Have a backup
Even with surge suppression, you’re not going to be able to avoid every outage or power spike. Peak-demand events and sudden situations can cause temporary loss of power, which negatively impacts productivity and revenue generation. In addition to surge protection, organizations should leverage an uninterruptible power supply solution. UPS systems seamlessly provide power when the main source goes down. Businesses are allowed enough battery runtime to save work and gracefully shut down equipment. Some UPS options have the capacity to continue operations for a considerable amount of time. UPS serves as a great backup plan for all organizations, in addition to their investment in quality surge protection solutions.
Everyday activities create power spikes within a business’s infrastructure, impacting sensitive hardware and degrading them over time. With surge suppression secrets like monitoring power hogs, looking at your solutions and establishing a backup plan, organizations can have peace of mind that they are effectively protected against surges and outages. Contact Energy Control Systems to find out more about how surge suppression can protect your company.