Protecting Electrical Goods During Storms in France

Some of you may already have moved from a grey and consistently dull climate to a more excitingly continental volatile one – so it may be worth considering a few precautions to take in case of stormy weather to protect your electronic equipment.

Your computer equipment, modem or router style box are particularly sensitive to stormy weather.

As a precaution it is advised during a storm to unplug the telephone sockets leading into your modem or internet style equivalent. Unplug the electrical cables from these items as well as from your computer.

As well as this you can also purchase a surge protector to limit the potentially damaging effects of electrical problems caused by a storm. These are also particularly useful to those of you living in areas where the electricity supply is a little unreliable, and will protect your equipment against any erratic power surges.

If the thought of losing your unsaved data on a PC due to a power failure fills you with horror, you might want to consider a surge protector with a built in uninterruptible power supply (UPS). The battery back-up would allow your system to still function in the event of a mains power cut.

Useful French words and terms

Surge protector: un parasurtenseur

Electricity supply: une alimentation électrique

Uninterruptible power supply (UPS): une alimentation d’énergie non interruptible