Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

Residents of Hilton Head Island and Bluffton, South Carolina, experienced a pretty widespread outage when a power line was accidentally taken out of service. According to local news sources, over 90 percent of the Palmetto Electric cooperative were affected, but thankfully it was but a blip; customers only had to do without power for a mere 40 seconds.

These kinds of hits, called momentary power outages, most likely don’t cause damage to equipment and other costly devices. These kinds of outages are more like a light switch; it just turns the power off and on.

Palmetto Electric apologized for the inconvenience caused by the outage, but given its short-lived moment, it’s hard to say who actually had a chance to be disturbed by it.

Regardless of how long or how short an outage is, the fact of the matter is they happen. These types of stories are good reminders, especially for businesses, to have a back-up solution for when a power failure will go far beyond half a minute.

For residents, there are flashlights, a generator, and a few board games to pass the time until power is restored, but when you run a business, it’s all about saving data and mission-critical equipment that may otherwise not have protection from insurance. That’s why power protection is a must on the lists of business-minded folk in addition to having a safety and disaster preparedness plan.

Minuteman Power Technologies offers an array of products geared toward the business owner, from outlet surge protectors to UPSs (uninterruptible power supplies). A UPS is an electrical piece of machinery that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source fails.

Aside from maintaining power when necessary, UPS prevents data loss and offers surge protection. The UPS automatically switches to AC generated battery power, preventing the spike or surge from harming whatever is connected to it. A UPS also prevents power fluctuations.

Using power protection equipment can save institutions thousands in costly damages due to outages, whether they are swift or prolonged, as well as keep things running smoothly and efficiently in the event of an interruption or total outage.