How much does your electric service affect the performance of your copier? Do you need to add a surge protector to your copier? As our century old power grids become ever more stressed and the amount of electronic devices we seem to crave increase, then the strain on our power grid becomes more obvious. Adding a surge protector is never a bad choice and when leasing a piece of equipment that could cost your company thousands of dollars, making a small investment could save you headaches down the road.
If you look at the terms and conditions of any copier service contract you’ll be sure to notice that there is a clause that excludes damage to the machine caused by power fluctuations. It’s because of this that the smart consumer should take action and be prepared for the worst case scenario. Besides the obvious, this investment has proven to actually increase the performance of the equipment while proportionately decreasing down time. This is the one single purchase that could actually increase productivity in your office without a huge outlay of cash.
There does seem to be confusion on what type of surge protector is actually sufficient enough to handle the load of a copier. Since most copiers draw 8 – 12 amps, buying a protector that will actually handle the load is very important. Most “strip” protectors that can be purchased through your local office supply center will not handle or be sufficient enough to protect your copier. Spend wisely when it comes to this, would you protect your computer with a $15 surge protector? Hopefully not! Depending on the voltage requirements of the machine, a good protector will run between $100 and $250. In the grand scheme of things this is a minor outlay to protect such a critical piece of office equipment.
Over the past few years it has become more prevalent for office equipment dealers and leasing companies to actually include these devices with the purchase and/or lease of a new copier. They have seen the benefit to having this silent Trojan protecting not only your investment, but also their investment in a long term smooth running copier.
Take a minute out of your day to look at the power cord of your copier, see if there is actually some sort of surge protector installed. If not, and you feel that this is important to consider, feel free to give us a call and arrange to have one installed.
