The Surge You Don't See Coming
Most homeowners in Lake Arrowhead and Crestline are aware of the risk of lightning strikes causing power surges. What many don't realize is that one of the most common causes of surge damage in mountain communities has nothing to do with lightning — it's the moment utility power is restored after an outage. When Edison re-energizes the grid after a PSPS event or storm-related outage, the sudden return of full voltage can send a brief but powerful surge through every circuit in your home. This surge can damage or destroy televisions, computers, smart home devices, refrigerators, HVAC control boards, and other sensitive electronics.
In mountain communities where outages are frequent, this risk is compounded. Every outage restoration is another opportunity for surge damage.
Point-of-Use vs. Whole-Home Surge Protection
Most homeowners rely on power strip surge protectors for individual devices. These provide some protection, but they have significant limitations: they protect only the devices plugged into them, they degrade over time and must be replaced, and they provide no protection for hardwired appliances like HVAC systems, dishwashers, or electric ranges.
A whole-home surge protector, installed at your main electrical panel, provides comprehensive protection for every circuit in your home — including hardwired appliances. It intercepts surge energy before it reaches any device in your home, clamping the voltage to safe levels within nanoseconds. Mountain Top Generator installs Generac's RTSW whole-home surge protection devices as part of our standard installation package.
Surge Protection and Your Generac Generator
When your Generac generator is running during an outage and utility power is restored, the automatic transfer switch manages the transition back to utility power. However, the transfer switch itself does not protect against surges on the utility side. A whole-home surge protector installed on the utility side of your panel provides an additional layer of protection during this transition.
Mountain Top Generator includes whole-home surge protection in all of our generator installation packages. It's not an optional add-on — it's a fundamental part of a complete power protection system. Call us at (909) 414-2803 to learn more.