A surge protector can save your life. Faulty wiring is a common cause of all home fires annually and if your electrical equipment is not running through a surge protector, you run a serious risk of having a fire start in your home due to power surges igniting the bad wiring.  It takes a lot of energy to power up a computer or another large electrical appliance such as an air conditioner, a washer and dryer or a refrigerator and this initial surge in power to get these pieces of equipment running is what can spark an overload in the wiring and trigger a fire. A surge protector absorbs this surge and dispersers the excess energy to a ground wire which keeps the electrical wiring from overheating and melting.

We use electricity every day. It's unavoidable. But what's not unavoidable is fire prevention. By using a power surge protector you are that much safer than you would be by using an ordinary power strip to power your electrical equipment. Most people don't realize that a power strip does not provide surge protection. They fill all the outlets and plug the power cord into the wall outlet and carry on with business as usual. What they don't realize is that not only are they slowly destroying their electrical equipment they are posing serious risk to their personal safety.

Surge protectors are specifically designed to absorb power spikes and displace unused energy. They act as regulators, basically, using a MOV, a metal oxide varistor to conduct the excess energy toward a grounding wire which absorbs the heat of the power surge and dissipates without causing critical wires to overheat. The grounding wire is typically a thick copper wire that is heat resistant. A MOV is a mass of zinc oxide particles sealed by electrodes. These are powerful enough to take a surge of mass proportions. They can't however prevent damage or fire resulting from a lightning strike. Constant power surges will eventually wear down a MOV and you will need to replace your surge protector accordingly.

A power surge is a spike in voltage, called a transient voltage in this case, that exceeds the designated flow of electricity for more than a few seconds. Where a standard voltage flows at around 120 volts, a power surge might increase the voltage flow to twice this. Electricity flows through a wire much like the principle of water through a hose. Pressure from one end of the hose pushes water to the other end. The same principle is applied to power passing through a home's wiring. In the US the standard voltage flow is 120 volts. Anything over this is considered a surge in power. Over time these surges can destroy the electronic components in a home computer or it can happen at once. Or in a worse scenario the flow can cause the wire to overheat to the point of ignition. It's an instant reaction, like a balloon with too much air. It pops.

The power surge protector allows the surge to enter it but then it diverts the electricity to a grounding wire when the level surges beyond the three second point. That's where the MOV comes in. It resides between the hot wire of the outlet and the grounding wire of the power strip. The metal oxide varistor is made of three parts as previously mentioned. The zinc oxide rests between two semiconductors that attach to the hot wire at one side and the grounding wire at the other side. During a surge the electrons pass into the varistor and are redirected. The excess power is sent to the grounding base while the normal level of current is allowed to pass along to the electrical equipment, in this case, our home computer.

Having loads of power sucking appliances are fairly common in most homes today, especially with home computer use so using a computer surge protector is always a good idea to protect your equipment but what about ordinary appliances? Really if you have anything that has delicate components like DVD players, home theaters, air conditioners, etc, then you should consider installing surge protection. Most home appliances possess some form of microprocessor which can be easily damaged by a surge in your power supply. You don't need to be concerned with lamps or alarm clocks or other small electrical appliances that use a modicum of power to run.

If you use your computer for working at home or have family that shares a computer then you might consider taking things a step further and installing APC surge protectors. An APC surge protector is a large backup battery surge protector for an uninterrupted power supply, often referred to as an UPS. How it works is when there is a blackout and no power is running to the equipment the APC provides a surge protector battery that temporarily supplies battery backup until the power returns.

Popular surge suppression manufacturers include Belkin surge protectors, the power squid surge protector, tripp lite and the Monster surge protector. Below is a video explaining how the Uninterrupted Power Supply works. the example used is the Tripp Lite surge protector. Check it out.