Have you thought about getting a generator for your home? We understand your concerns: extended power outages have started to happen more often because of an increase in stormy weather on the East Coast and issues with aging power grids. You may have started to investigate the different options and pricing for generators.
We work with generators and based on our experience we recommend that you have a standby generator installed for your home. We’ll go into how these generators work and why they’re the best choice for protecting your home and family during a lengthy loss of electrical power.
What Is a Standby Generator?
A portable generator is a device you wheel out when you need to have power. A standby generator is a permanent installation for the home. The generator is placed on a concrete outdoor slab (similar to the slab for an air conditioner’s condenser) and hard-wired directly into the electrical system for the house.
Standby generators are sometimes called whole house generators because they provide voltage to the entire electrical system of the house, rather than delivering power only to devices that plug into it.
How Standby Generators Improve on Portable Generators
You compare the cost of a portable generator and a standby generator and wonder if paying more for a standby unit is worth it. Portable generators do have their uses, such as an emergency backup in a vehicle or for camping trips. However, when it comes to an electrical backup for your home, you definitely want a standby generator, not a portable one. Here are the top reasons why:
- Portable generators are potential safety hazards. They need to be inside a house to work, and they release toxic exhaust as they burn fuel. A standby generator is located safely outside a house.
- Standby generators can burn natural gas, which is readily available for many homes through a municipal gas line. This means the generator won’t run out of fuel and can continue work for as long as the home needs power.
- The amount of voltage a standby generator can deliver is much greater than a portable generator. You can potentially power all of your house with one of these generators.
- Standby generators are flexible when it comes to sizing, so you only need to purchase a generator powerful enough to meet your specific needs (lights, HVAC, refrigerator) if you don’t plan to power all of your home during an outage.
- There are additional features for standby generators such as automatic standby generators. These generators switch on automatically when the power goes out, removing the need for someone to go outdoors to switch it on during an outage.
You can depend on our team of expert technicians to install a standby generator for your house. We’ll also help you get the most out of your backup power supply with our services for generator maintenance and generator repair in Rockville, MD. Our technicians are happy to answer any questions you have about generators.
Contact B&B Air Conditioning & Heating Service to find out more about standby generators. We are always there when you need us.
