Should you invest in a standby emergency generator?
In modern society, we have become very dependent on electricity for a variety of purposes. Not only does the furnace require electricity to run, but your freezer and fridge will be out of commission should you have a major power outage. If you live in a rural area, the water well will be useless without the electric pump, which also means bathroom facilities are down for the count. At this moment, when you are cold, your frozen food is thawing and maybe beginning to rot, it is dark and you can't see, or you wish you could use the bathroom indoors, you may wish you had a standby emergency generator.
No doubt about it, a power failure can occur without warning to any of us. A storm could knock a tree down on a line, or coat overhead power lines and power poles with ice, breaking them. This happened in Eastern Canada a few years ago and left residences without power (or heat!) for up to a month, as all the power poles were broken and needed to be replaced.
Equipment can dig a hole and accidentally hit a buried power line. The power infrastructure can become overloaded and result in a blackout. Utility company equipment can wear out or fail. Basically, you could be left without electricity without any warning, usually at the most inconvenient or dangerous times.
For these reasons, it can very helpful to have a standby emergency generator waiting to swing into action. Even though the power company will be doing everything it can to get you supplied with electricity again, it can take a long time. 72 hours is too long if your freezer is not running in the middle of summer. It can really pay off to be ready for such a time of difficulty.
Standby emergency generators basically come in two varieties. The first is a portable emergency generator, which will be able to power a few basic items in your home. For instance, a small propane generator or gasoline generator would be able to run the fridge or freezer, a light and the television, depending on its power output rating. It might be necessary to shut one device off while powering another, for instance unplugging the fridge while running the microwave for a few minutes. An emergency generator like this basically can be placed outside your home and extension cords can be run to the appliances or devices you intend to run. It would be necessary to keep an amount of fuel, the emergency standby generator and the power cords on hand and ready to go at your property.
A permanent standby generator is much more expensive, but might be worth the money. These larger units are installed by an electrician and wired right into your home's electrical system. In the event of a power outage, the most complicated emergency standby generators will turn themselves on and start supplying the house with electricity immediately. Depending on the size of the generator, it might be capable of running every electrical device you own.
Other permanent standby generators must be switched on manually, as per manufacturer's instructions.
Some of these generators will cost thousands of dollars to install, while the portable emergency generators might only cost a few hundred. In the event of a longer power outage, you might find that an emergency standby generator is well worth the investment.
