Protect Your Home from Lightning Storms

A lot of people find thunderstorms soothing, and then there are those who are terrified or them. Lightning storms can do some dangerous damage to an HVAC system. Here is how to keep your home safe.

While the effects on your system might not be apparent right away, power surges following an outage can damage air conditioners during a storm. It is a good idea to learn some signs of lightning damage so you can get your system fixed right away.

Damaged capacitor: The most common air conditioning part to give way following a power surge, a damaged capacitor can lead to further problems.

Blown fuses: If the voltage has damaged your air conditioner, you are more likely to encounter an air conditioning system which trips a breaker or blows the fuse due to damaged electrical lines.

Burned wires: If a power surge damages electrical wires within the air conditioner or within your home, your air conditioner might not work.

Damaged compressor or Motor: Some of the most expensive parts to fix in an HVAC system, a damaged air conditioning compressor or motor may not be noticeable right away. It can take weeks or months for an air conditioner or furnace to finally fail and indicate that the compressor or motor was damaged.

While, we don’t know when lightning storms are going to strike the best advice to give is turn off your system when you know a big storm is coming. When the power is not running, it’s less likely for the damages to be as serious.  And as always if you fear that damage has occurred to your HVAC system it is best to call a certified dealer to have them inspect your system for damage. Please call us at 813-689-2082 to schedule an inspection of your unit!