Each time a power failure occurs, another appliance dies. It’s not necessarily the drop in power that causes the issue, it’s the return of power that wreaks havoc on your poor appliances.

Imagine a “tidal wave” of electricity that floods in when the power is restored. Now imagine the size of that wave when every other building and device is also demanding the same electricity supply. This is a power surge.

Although a power surge is only a thousandth of a second, this could send triple the voltage to your appliances.

Appliances such as televisions, cameras, and computers are usually the first to go. Fridges and cooling appliances, however, are more at risk due to their temperamental nature.

The best practice to protect your appliances from power surges is to turn off all the breakers when the power fails.

When the power returns, wait around 2 minutes for the power to stabilise before turning the breakers on again.

Start with the Main Breaker and then turn each breaker on, one at a time.

This same rule applies if your power trips from the earth leakage. Each time you attempt to turn on the main breaker and it keeps tripping, you create another surge.

Do this several times in a row and you might as well throw a lightning bolt through your entire house.

Having an auto-start generator does not make it safer either, it may do the opposite.

The reason being is that your appliances may receive a double whammy of surges. One when the generator kicks in. The second surge when the municipal power restores.

Although many generators claim to have power surge protection, don’t rely on this. Components can fail and electricians may connect them incorrectly.

So to be sure, turn off all breakers as soon as there is a power trip or power failure. As soon as the power is restored, wait a few minutes and turn the breakers on again one at a time.

This way you will be certain that your appliances will not experience the hand of Zeus and your insurance company will start loving you again.