Guarding your house against load shedding is not always possible
But, a higher voltage of electricity, that may be unstable when the power is restored, may damage electrical appliances.
Safeguarding your house against load shedding is not always possible, because you don’t know when the power will go off.
Ueli Hiller, local businessman says a higher voltage of electricity, that may be unstable when the power is restored, may damage electrical appliances.
He says it may also happen that equipment such as DSTv decoders have to be restarted and needed to be set again after the electricity was off .
Tony da Cruz, a local security specialist says to safeguard gate motors and garage motors against load shedding and power surges a home owner has to ensure that these motors have a battery back-up control system that enables the gate or garage door to operate during a time of no electricity.
This will prevent the resident from being locked out of his property if load shedding occurs.
A standard approved alarm system has a battery back up system that generally gives approximately 10 hours on back up power during an electricity outage.
He recommends that a second battery be added to double the standby time.
About what a family has to do to keep safe when all the lights are off and having no security system or alarm, he says the family should lock the home’s outside security gates, doors and windows while staying inside.
They also have to let their alarm company know that they are experiencing load shedding to avoid calls regarding an alert.
“Never go out to investigate any suspicious activity in the garden or outside areas, but rather call your security service provider to do an immediate inspection,” he says.
He also suggested, if possible, that home owners get a small generator with two or three 50 metre extensions that will enable life to carry on during the time of load shedding.
“Place the generator outdoors in a well ventilated space and connect the extension leads from the generator through a window to the rooms requiring 220V power,” he says.
The TVs DSTV, chargers and gaming consoles can then be used during the outage.
Themba Gadebe the Ekurhuleni metro spokesman says load shedding is not supposed to cause damages to appliances.
He says damages happened during load shedding should be claimed from Eskom because load shedding is an action enforced by Eskom to all its licensed distributors, of which Ekurhuleni is one.
“Ekurhuleni has no control over the implementation or duration of power outings and consequently not accept any liability for losses that might arise,” says Gadebe.
