Our Tampa Bay HomePro expert Joby from A/C Warehouse is back with us today. And recent storms have us all thinking about protection. So this morning, we are breaking down surge protection for your AC unit.
This is so interesting. Good morning. So you’ve been pretty busy, obviously, after hurricane Irma, which I had no idea it all has to do with what is found inside this little box. Unfortunately, many people did not have.
Yeah, a lot of times homeowners, when they go out and purchase a television or a home computer, the first thing they’ll think about is, well, I better purchase a surge protector to plug that device into. If I get a surge, it doesn’t cause damage.
Right? But unfortunately, a lot of times homeowners don’t really consider or think about surge protection for their air conditioning system, until now. Because we’re making sure every homeowner knows how important this is.
It’s very important. In fact, after the storm that we recently had, we had a tremendous amount of calls that came in. Once the people know that their power was turned back on, they’re hoping their air conditioner turns back on. Of course, they had a breakdown, and that was due to a lot of power surges or lightning strikes that caused damage to their air conditioner.
Now this is interesting because you were telling me a lot of people may be misinformed or maybe misguided. In effect, if they have a policy with their electric company that they have this home coverage, they don’t need this. That’s correct. A lot of homeowners have been proactive, and they’ve gone to their power company and they’ve installed a whole-house surge protector for their home. And they feel “I’m safe,” right? I understand that for the most part, you are. They do work; however, they do not protect your outside condensing unit from your air conditioner. So this would be something totally separate that you need absolutely as far as your outside unit.
This is an absolute must. Okay, how can you find out number one? I guess if it still works, let’s say, you’ve had one on for quite some time. Or number two, if you even have one.
Well, it’s really simple. Number one, of course, you could always give us a call we can send one of our trained, certified technicians out to evaluate the surge protector. If you do have one at home currently, you could have had it for five to six years. And it could have taken a surge and taken the hit, and it’s no longer any good. And you may have to install a new one. Or you can simply go outside if you’d like, and you can look at the electrical box that’s located next to your outside unit. That should be within two or three feet of that unit. And if you don’t see this device connected on the outside of that, then you don’t have one.
But this is important to bring up, though. Homeowners should not be disconnecting this and plugging this in. It’s not like we can go buy one of these online and install it ourselves. Talk about the safety component.
Yes, you definitely want to have a trained, certified professional to install this device. This device gets wired into the high-voltage line of your air conditioning unit. If it is done improperly, you could cause damage to your unit or possibly be electrocuted. Yeah, so again, if this is installed by a trained certified technician, this also comes with a three-year warranty. Okay, and in the event that this is installed in your unit and then your unit gets a surge and there’s any damage caused, this covers up to seventy-five hundred dollars worth of damage to your you ac unit.
Wow, you know we were kind of talking before we started. And I know a lot of times we sometimes can feel like we’re always being nickel-and-dimed. Oh, you need this, oh, you need this. And even right before we started, you said no, you absolutely need this. This is not something to play around with.
Yeah, a lot of times homeowners purchase different products, and people want to sell them insurance policies or whatnot on those products. And they just feel, I should be fine. This is not something to cut out. Don’t cut corners when it comes to surge protection. Your air conditioner is one of the most expensive appliances in your home. If we’re gonna protect anything, make sure you protect your system with a surge protector. Especially here in Florida. So, again, whether it’s a storm, even just lightning, we have lightning all year round, all the time. We’re the lightning capital, fifty weeks out of the year.
Yeah, all right, well here’s the good part too. If you do need a new AC installed, he has a special offer for you this morning. This is going to be included, right? Absolutely! Any new system installed between now and the end of October, we’re gonna go ahead and include a free surge protector for you. All right, we’ll do. Jobey, thanks for explaining this. We appreciate it, and we look forward to having you next time. Thanks so much for being one of our Tampa Bay home pros. Thanks for having me.
