What a Storm Surge Actually Does to Your Appliances

After a big storm, half the street has a dead router or an air con that won’t start. Sometimes that’s a coincidence. Often it’s a power surge, and it doesn’t always show up on the night.

What a surge is

Your home runs on 230 volts. A surge is a spike well above that, lasting a fraction of a second. It’s short, but it carries enough energy to overload the electronics inside an appliance. The main causes in Far North Queensland are:

• Lightning. It doesn’t need to hit your house. A strike on or near the power lines can push a spike into the network and down every service on the street.
• Grid switching. When the network cuts out and comes back on, it can send a jolt through as it re-energises.
• Big motors starting up. Air-con compressors and pumps cycling on and off can create smaller spikes inside your own home.

Two ways a surge does damage

The obvious way: instant failure. The appliance goes dead. Nothing lights up, or a fridge won’t start, or the TV clicks and stays black. This is the damage people notice and blame on the storm.

The quiet way: gradual wear. Smaller spikes that don’t kill anything outright still stress the electronics. Over time this can shorten an appliance’s life, and it can then fail months later with no obvious cause. It’s very hard to prove after the fact, which is part of why so many failures get put down to age.

What tends to go first

Anything with a circuit board is vulnerable. In most homes that means:

• Air conditioners. The control board in the indoor or outdoor unit is a common casualty, and it’s one of the pricier repairs.
• Fridges and freezers. Modern ones have electronic controls. Losing one can also mean losing what’s inside it.
• TVs, computers and routers. Anything plugged in and connected to the internet or antenna is exposed by more than one path.
• Smart home devices. Cameras, doorbells, hubs and speakers are all small, cheap-looking and quietly plugged in everywhere.
• EV chargers and solar inverters. They’re wired to the switchboard, and they cost more than most things in the house.

For a sense of scale, typical replacement costs are roughly $1,200–$3,500 for an air conditioner, $800–$2,800 for a fridge, $600–$2,500 for a computer and $400–$1,500 for a TV. A few of those at once adds up fast.

Signs your gear has been hit

• An appliance that won’t turn on after a storm or a power outage
• Error codes, flashing lights or a control panel that’s stopped responding
• A smell of burnt plastic near a power point or appliance
• Gear that’s started resetting or acting oddly since a storm
• A tripped safety switch or breaker straight after a bang or flicker

If you notice a burning smell or scorch marks, switch off at the board and call an electrician. Don’t keep using it.

How to stop it

You can’t stop a storm, but you can stop the spike reaching your gear. A whole-home surge protection device fitted in your switchboard catches it at the point where power enters the house, so it covers plugged-in and hardwired appliances alike. A good power board behind your most sensitive equipment adds a second layer.

If you want to see what’s at risk in your own home, the 30-second check gives you an estimate and your fixed price to protect it.