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Power Failure
Can be caused by a number of events: lightning strikes, downed power lines, grid over-demands, accidents, and natural disasters. Impact: PC hardware damage, data loss or total system crash.

Power Sag
Caused by short-term low voltage. Triggered by the start up of large loads, utility switching, utility equipment failure, lightning, and power service that's too small for the demand. Impact: Similar to power failures, sags can damage the system hardware.

Power Surge
Also known as "spikes", these are caused by short-term high voltage (above 110% of the nominal). With such high voltages, surges can be triggered by a rapid reduction in power loads, heavy equipment being turned off, or by utility switching. Impact: Can potentially damage hardware.

Low Voltage
Also called "brownout", it is the result of reduced line voltage for extended periods of a few minutes to a few days. Can be caused by an intentional utility voltage reduction to conserve power during peak demand periods or other heavy loads that exceed supply capacity.

High Voltage
Increased line voltage for extended periods of a few minutes to a few days. Can be caused by lightning strikes and can send line voltages to levels in excess of 6,000 V. Impact: Leads to loss of data and hardware damage.

Electrical Line Noise
High frequency waveform is caused by RFI (radio frequency interference) or EMI (electromagnetic interference). Impact: RFI
or EMI generated by transmitters, welding devices, SCR driven printers, lightning etc. introduces glitches and errors into programs/files as well as damages hardware.

Frequency Variation
Arises out of generators or small co-generation sites being loaded and unloaded. Impact: Can cause erratic operation, data loss, system and equipment damage.

Switching Transient
Normal duration of a switching transient is shorter than a spike and generally falls in the range of nanoseconds. Impact: Can result in quirky computer behavior and stresses components, which may lead to premature failure.

Harmonic Distortion
Distortion of the normal waveform generally switches mode power supplies, variable speed motors and drives, copiers and fax machines are examples of non-linear loads. Impact: Can cause communication errors, overheating and hardware damage.

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