Dirty Power

[stevo]

I've recently seen an IT business in the Riverland, South Australia stating they have had to fix quite a few PSU's in computers recently and investigation has identified dirty power as the cause. They claim it may also affect TV's etc.

I have several thousand dollars worth of electronic equipment including 7 computer systems so this is of course a concern.

Whilst I understand this can happen very occassionally, the suggestion here is it's common and may have been happening for sometime here in the Riverland. I cannot check the veracity of the claim because no-one else is making the claim that I can identify.

I can only assume you would know of this.

So my questions are 1) is this correct, 2) should I be concerned 3) what is being done about it.

Thank you in advance.

[David_AGL]

Hi @stevo 

Inconsistent power supply can sometimes be an issue in regional areas, and it's true that this has the potential to damage electronics, although a good quality power supply in your computer will generally prevent this. Another option is running your electronics through an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) unit. These can be expensive but probably worth it to protect gear from power surges and so on.

Your local IT business is probably letting you know about such issues because they'd like to sell you one!