Surge protection is a topic that few business owners and consumers want to discuss, due to the fact that it is very much in the same vein as insurance. Nobody likes to spend money that they cannot see a direct benefit from in the present, and fewer still like to spend money on things that you hope you will never use. Surge protection itself is much like insurance in that it is only there for bad situations, and literally has no impact on you outside of those instances. Surge protection devices allow your systems to function normally when they are not in use, and only act in the event of a catastrophic situation to prevent as much damage as possible. The same way that insurance is best if it is never needed, surge protection helps you to minimize losses instead of increasing or streamlining operations in any other way. When though about in this light, you can see why many people would choose to try and get only the minimum amount that is absolutely necessary. These same people will have regrets if they are not appropriately protected in the event of a lightning strike.
As with insurance, people will often want to try and figure out the “bare minimum” that they can purchase in order to provide protection against damage. While this mentality is expected, it is actually not in the best interest of a company to think this way. The bare minimum will not protect as efficiently and completely as a more robust surge protection installation, and ultimately will not prevent as much damage. The equipment itself is not going to necessarily sustain more or less damage in the event of a lightning strike for example, if you installed one SPD there would be “x” amount of damage and with two SPDs there would be “y” amount. Instead, a more robust protection system will provide better protection levels in all situations. An example of this can be the “multi-strike” example of lightning striking a component and triggering the SPD to block the power flow to all components beyond it. If the SPD is triggered, it is no longer functioning to provide protection and the components are now vulnerable until it is reset or replaced. A subsequent strike to the same facility previous to reset or replacement could damage equipment that was protected from the first strike and surge, and the installation of a more technologically superior device like Strikesorb from Raycap can ultimately provide continual protections. These same devices also improve the speeds that systems can be reset back to functionality and reduce downtimes. Without the triggering of the device, the system functions as normal no matter if the device is superior or not.
Ultimately, it is best to think of the levels of surge protection that are necessary as being defined by how much you are willing to lose. For industrial installations, it isn’t a matter of if the strike and surge will happen, it is only a matter of when. Your surge protection system is your only line of defense against losses, and should be as advanced as possible.
