Florida is no stranger to severe weather, and thunderstorms with lightning strikes are fairly common, especially during peak thunderstorm season each summer. While these storms may be awe-inspiring, they’re a huge worry for your home and the electrical system running through it. A lightning strike can lead to a sudden power surge, which can result in immense damage to anything plugged in at the time, including your air conditioner.
As a homeowner, it’s in your best interest to protect your important appliances and possessions from these power surges in order to avoid expensive repair or replacement bills, especially your air conditioner. A lightning strike could knock your air conditioner out of commission, which is particularly devastating when you need the cool air and relief from the humidity the most. Here are some tips you can follow to preserve your home’s electrical system and defend against the major power surges.
Turn Off Your Air Conditioner
When a storm comes rolling in, it’s a good practice to turn off your air conditioner and even consider unplugging it if its connection can be easily reached. For starters, the accompanying rainfall can cause the outdoor unit of your air conditioner to flood, which means it could possibly fail and break down, even going so far as to ruin the indoor unit as well. Second, a lightning strike on your home could cause a power surge, causing the system to give out.
Install a Surge Protector
A surge protector is a device that’s designed to protect appliances and anything else plugged into it from sudden power surges in your electrical system. If the protector detects any sudden spikes in voltage, they trip like a circuit breaker and shut off. While this does disable the device until the surge protector can be reset or replaced, the upside is you don’t have to replace the devices that would have otherwise been impacted by the surge.
Call an Air Conditioning Repair Expert
Unfortunately most people don’t think about unplugging their air conditioner in the event of a thunderstorm, and that means a power surge could cause damage. If your air conditioner has sustained damage as a result of a power surge, or even from outdoor flooding due to sudden heavy rains, it’s important to have it repaired by an experienced Orlando air conditioning repair professional. A quick repair can prevent system down time and help keep your system in good health for the future.
To schedule your repair service, call Del-Air Heating and Air Conditioning today at 888-831-2665!