Weather is a tricky business. For people who get paid to foretell our meteorological future, it’s surprising how often they miss. And miss massively. While we can’t make any forecasts about the severity of the upcoming storm season, we are fully confident you’ll experience severe weather and maybe lose power unexpectedly between May and September. So, it’s prudent to hope for the best and plan for the worst.
Always put your safety first
First and foremost, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) tells us that a little prep goes a long way. Here are immediate measures to take in your home during severe weather.
- Stay indoors
- Don’t bathe, shower or do laundry
- Stay off your landline phone and computer
- Don’t handle metal objects or be near metal pipes
- Use surge protection equipment
- Have a safe shelter space prepared with sleeping bags, blankets, battery-powered radio, flashlights, and water
While your personal safety is of the utmost importance, don’t forget about protecting your data and devices. During a power outage, the power to your devices will be disconnected for an unknown period of time– but, with some advanced planning, you can protect yourself, your data, and your devices from damage and loss.
Imagine your kids without their go-to apps and games, or your boss listening to your excuse on how you couldn’t access the files for that essential sales presentation. What will your customers say when you are a week behind on product deliveries? When you know the potential threats, it’s easier to plan ahead.
Five reasons to create a power protection plan
Reason #1: More power outages are occurring
When you look back at 2009, just 13 million people were affected by 2,840 power outages.
Now, fast forward to 2017. Power industry research reveals that 36.7 million people were affected by 3,526 reported power outages, more than double the 17.9 million people impacted in 2016. A trend is emerging and the increase in these numbers doesn’t correlate with population growth, so more outages are affecting more of us, more often.
Reason #2: More than ever, different types of events can damage your electronics
It may be surprising to you that brownouts, not necessarily blackouts cause 87% of all power problems. And over time, voltage fluctuations during these brownouts gradually wear down your appliances, such as your refrigerator, and air-conditioning units, potentially causing them to overheat and run less efficiently.
Another factor to consider is the volatility of the recovery process as energy spikes may occur in your electric service as it returns to normal operations. That inrush of energy coming back online and into your home can be damaging after the power outage.
Reason #3: The allure of AC can be downright draining
Some power outages are planned. For instance, a utility company may activate a rolling blackout which turns off electricity to selected areas or neighborhoods. These happen most often during hot and humid conditions when the demand for air conditioning overloads generating capacity. The blackouts typically last for one hour, then the power is restored, and another area is turned off. This practice may conserve energy, which is good for the utility company, but not so good for you because it creates unpredictability in the availability of power to your home.
Reason #4: Did you know? There are other surprising causes of power outages
Storms are going to happen and cause 70% of outages which will predictably be threatening to your home or business. But you may also be surprised how other elements of nature play their role. Curious or just misfortunate animals can get tangled in transmission and distribution lines and shut down or reduce power to an entire area. Also, trucks and cars taking out power poles in accidents happen more often than you may think in creating power outages.
Reason #5: Now’s the time to consider your best contingencies
Most of us can admit, we’re dependent on our digital existence and our digital devices rely on power to run. Having protection from storm season power loss, sags, and surges are vital for the consistent productivity we need in our lives. It’s why you should look closely at your surge protection and backup power contingencies.
Put the power protection products in place today to safeguard your digital lifestyle for tomorrow. Surge protectors are your first line of defense. Find a variety of options from strips to wall mounted units to rack devices.
View CyberPower Surge Protectors to discover what model is right for you.
UPS units comprise the next level of defense. Back up your home or office computer and devices with the UPS that best matches your needs. If you want to analyze your network infrastructure UPS needs now, try the power assessment tool which examines your server rack equipment power requirements to help analyze your exact technical UPS needs and power protection criteria.
View CyberPower UPS systems to discover what model is right for you.
Backup generator success tip:
Finally, a more advanced method of power protection is to utilize a generator. If you are using an emergency or backup generator during Storm Season to power your household or business, keep in mind that your UPS backup battery unit can bridge your power needs until the generator is running. And if you are connected to modern computers, you’ll want to make sure sine wave power is used during that intermittent time between power outage and generator startup.
CyberPower has the PFC Sinewave product line designed to safely bridge you to generator power during an outage.
Why CyberPower?
Quality isn’t just a corporate slogan; it’s a core value at CyberPower. How? As the direct manufacturer of the product, CyberPower has better control of quality through the entire manufacturing process. This allows innovative new solutions to get to the market faster and more competitively.
With this vertically integrated approach, employees throughout the organization have a deep interest in success — the success you have with the product and service that backs it up.
Each product is delivered with unprecedented assurance and industry-leading warranties. And with 100% US-based service, you can count on prompt and responsive service at every point of contact.
View CyberPower Office Solutions to learn more about our power protection product features.
