How does a surge protector work?

Surge protection draws in any abundance of energy that comes into the electrical system and gets rid of it through your grounding system in order to prevent damage to electronics plugged in during a power surge. A surge protector is a device which protects electronic devices from the effects of a sudden spike in voltage above what they are designed to handle. Many of them have several plug in sites, like a power strip, each of which are protected. It is important to know that not all power strips are surge protectors. You want to make sure your electronic equipment are plugged into the surge protector so it wont be effected in the case of an unexpected voltage spike.

When the surge protector is plugged in and some other device plugged into it, the protector normally acts as a standard power strip or extension cord. When there is a voltage level that goes past the surge protectors capacity, excess energy is diverted away from the components plugged into the protector which saves them from being effected. Some surge protectors also have a fail-safe fuse in case too much voltage manages to get through