Lightning Protection
With more than 70 years of experience in the electrical distribution business, Sumter EMC has a tremendous amount of experience in lightning protection. Proper protection for a home or business can be more effective if certain simple principles are followed in initial construction:
- All utilities (power, telephone, cable TV, sprinkler controls, etc.) should enter a building in close proximity to one another, with all grounds bonded together.
- Install surge protection on all utilities at the service entrance location.
- Install point-of-use surge protectors on all electronic equipment.
- When purchasing and installing lightning arresters, look for MOV (metal oxide varister) type arresters.
- Connections for arresters and grounds should be short and straight.
- Connect a grounding lead to any submersible pump frame before installing, and install a high quality lightning arrester at the wellhead with the arrester ground connected to the pump frame.
- Specify shielded wire for sprinkler systems and other wiring that extends a significant distance from the building. Where shielded wiring is impractical, install surge arresters.
- An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) should be used to protect against surges and power outages where equipment is sensitive to power failure.
Sumter EMC can provide meter-based surge protection, as well as surge protection devices for the telephone and cable TV service entrances. Point-of-use (outlet strip) surge protectors are also available for computers and other sensitive electronic equipment. More information on lightning and lightning protection is available on the internet at the following sites:
West Virginia Lightning - http://wvlightning.com
National Safety Lightning Institute - http://www.lightningsafety.com
To have a Sumter EMC representative contact you about an on-site survey to determine your surge protection needs, send an e-mail with your name, account number and a daytime phone number to our Customer Service Department at customerservice@sumteremc.com.
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