Electricity is an essential commodity these days. You rely on it to run nearly everything that gets your life going. In homes, you need to power up appliances and other household fittings to make your life better. The sad part is that it comes at a cost, and you must use it sparingly to keep the bills down. It is also offered from shared grids, meaning that fluctuations in voltage can occur when too many people connect to one grid. This is a common problem in modern cities. It affects the quality of power supply availed in homes, and learning everything you can about it will help you stay on top of the issue. Read on:
Defining a Power Sag
Just as the name suggests, a power sag happens when the level of voltage available goes down below the recommended or intended supply level. It is different from a power surge, which happens when excess voltage flows from the supply grid into the consumer units. Often, people interchange these terms, but you need to differentiate them to understand the type of problem you are facing in your home.
Power sags occur at short intervals, often lasting a few seconds. It is different from brownout, which can last several minutes to hours. However, these short fluctuations affect the normal working of home appliances and equipment.
The Effects of a Power Sag
Power sags may seem harmless, but they make your power supply unit (PSU) draw down more current. This places lots of stress on the components, and they build up heat because of overworking. Secondly, a drop in voltage below the expected input level makes vice and data processing hardware components fail. You will notice audiovisual devices rebooting and struggling to display information as the voltages sags.
Causes and Courses of Action
A common cause of sagging power voltages in homes is connecting heavy voltage loads to one power source. Motors, machinery and big appliances make the list of heavy inrush loads that should draw power from separate sources where possible. A good electrician can rectify this error in your home and normalise the flow of power.
It also helps to have a backup power supply system connected to the devices to power them up when there is a sag. It maintains the desired voltage level until the voltage flow regularises. Lastly, it would help if you went for appliances and equipment with an uninterruptible power supply to resist the fluctuating voltage. To learn more, contact electric repair services.
