Practical pre-wet-season electrical checks for Townsville homes: surge protection, switchboard safety, backup power and securing your solar.
Get your switchboard and surge protection sorted before the build-up
Every year around the build-up we get the same calls from Townsville households once the first big storms roll through, and almost all of them trace back to something that could have been checked in October. The wet season up here is not gentle. A single nearby lightning strike can push a voltage spike through your wiring that fries TVs, fridges, modems and the inverter on your roof, and Ergon's grid takes a hammering when the cells come through Kirwan, Annandale and out toward the northern beaches. The single best thing you can do is have a licensed sparky fit a proper switchboard-level surge protection device, and back it up with point-of-use protectors on the gear that actually hurts to replace.
While we're at the board, we check the safety switches (RCDs) actually trip the way they're meant to, because a surprising number sit there for years doing nothing. We also look for tired old ceramic fuses, loose connections and corrosion, which is rampant in our salt air and humidity. If your switchboard still has rewireable fuses or you've never had it inspected, that's the first job worth booking. Our licensed electrical team can test every circuit, label the board properly and tell you straight whether it's storm-ready or living on borrowed time.
Battery backup or a generator? Picking the right blackout plan
When a cyclone or a bad storm cell knocks out the Ergon grid, power can be off for hours or, in a serious event, days. The two real options are a battery system or a generator, and they suit different households. A generator is cheaper up front and will run your fridge and a few essentials, but it needs fuel on hand, it lives outside, it's noisy, and you cannot safely run it through your house wiring without a proper changeover switch installed by a sparky. Plenty of people buy one in a panic at the start of the season and then discover they've no safe way to connect it.
A battery is the cleaner long-term answer, especially if you already have panels. Pairing your solar with home battery storage means the system charges through the day and keeps the lights, fridge and fans going automatically when the grid drops, with no fuel and no noise. A Tesla Powerwall will switch over so fast you barely notice the outage, and it keeps the air conditioning manageable through a sticky, powerless night. We'll size it honestly around what you actually need to keep running, not oversell you a wall of batteries.
Secure your solar and tick off the pre-wet-season checks
Your rooftop solar takes the full brunt of a North Queensland storm, so it pays to have it checked before the season rather than after a panel has lifted. We inspect the mounting feet and clamps for movement, look over the roof penetrations and flashing for leaks, and check that the cabling and isolators haven't degraded in the UV and heat, because cracked isolators are a genuine fire risk up here. A well-secured, properly earthed system rides out the wind and sheds water the way it should. If you're weighing up a new install or an upgrade, getting the solar system spec'd for cyclone-rated mounting from day one saves a lot of grief.
To pull it together, here's the short list worth ticking off before the wet hits: have the switchboard inspected and surge protection fitted; test your safety switches; sort a battery or a safely wired-in generator changeover; get the solar mounting, isolators and earthing checked; and know where your main switch is so you can kill the power fast if water gets in. None of it is dramatic, but every one of these jobs is far easier and cheaper to handle now than during a blackout with rain coming sideways. Give Jason and the team a call and we'll get your place properly storm-ready before the build-up turns serious.
Ready to get it sorted?
We handle electrical services across Townsville and the Burdekin — quoted upfront, installed by our own accredited local team.