Tips for Choosing a Home Standby Generator
If you have experienced frequent power outages, you know how terrible that experience can be. A home standby generator is a smart solution to the problem of power outages. But choosing a good standby generator is harder than it sounds. In this post, we are going to provide some tips that will hopefully help you make an informed decision.
Don’t wait for the last minute
When a major power outage has already hit your area, you will find it hard to move out of your home, let alone go to a hardware store. Even if you can reach a local hardware store, you will find that everybody is doing either of the two things: buying a standby generator or repairing one.
You will end up hustling with so many homeowners. If you have experienced frequent power outages, you know how terrible they can be. You will have fewer options to choose from, and you will have even fewer minutes to think about the right standby generator for your needs.
You may have to deal with another serious problem: higher prices. When a product is in great demand, the product may become pricey.
That is why you should buy a home standby generator before it is too late. If you wait for the last minute, you may end up spending more on this machine.
Define your needs
This is another important thing: you must know how powerful the generator needs to be. Your first job is to figure out how many watts your appliances need to function smoothly. It takes a little bit of calculation.
It is up to you what type of devices and how many devices you need. The power of your standby generator should be determined by this factor. No matter how many devices you have in your home, you will probably prioritize your refrigerator, and that is for a good reason.
Other electronic devices do not usually take a lot of power to function. For example, a few chargers, fans and lights consume just a few hundred watts. If you have a large budget for your home standby generator, rest assured that this machine will power your whole home.
How can you know how much power your devices use? Well, you can read the owner’s manuals to obtain the information. If you find it hard or not have enough time to do it, you can contact and electrician. An electrician can help you find an accurate count. And when you go to buy a generator, use this information to choose the right generator for your home.
The important decision
The process of buying a home standby generator sounds pretty straightforward. But the fact is, you will have to consider a lot of things such as electrical capacity, features and price. Above all, one thing should be clear to you: why you are going to buy a standby generator instead of an inverter generator or a portable generator.
A standby generator is the type of generator that you need to buy even if you do not know whether a power outage is going to occur or not. The generator connected to the power system of your home, and it automatically starts working as soon as the power goes out.
Either liquid propane or natural gas can be used as the power source. The cost is determined mainly by the generator size. Ease of installation is another factor that determines the cost.
Once you have figured out which standby generator you need, you have to make solid plans of what you are going to do next. A licensed electrician can help you install the generator.