Winter Power Outages: How GENERAC Generators Can Keep You Safe
A short outage during mild weather is an inconvenience for most folks, but an outage during winter weather can quickly become a crisis situation. That’s because losing electricity during winter can create different–and often more serious–concerns than it may during spring, summer or fall. Depending on your home's systems, an outage can affect heating, refrigerators and freezers, sump pumps, well pumps, communications, and other important equipment. Standby GENERAC generators offer a trusted way to provide backup electricity, whatever nature throws your way.
Standby Generators Are Especially Helpful in Winter
Winter power outages are particularly concerning. They can bring heavy snow, ice accumulation and strong winds that can lead to falling trees and branches, damage to utility equipment and can also make for difficult travel conditions. This means that if your power goes out during a winter storm, there is a much higher chance that you could be stranded for a while.
At the same time, cold temperatures can exacerbate the problem in other ways. Lack of safe or reliable heat can cause frozen or burst pipes and bring carbon monoxide related risks. Day length is shorter and stormy weather can dim natural light, so without a power source, most of your day could be spent in the dark. Even if you do have some light in the main areas of the home, without backup electricity you could be dealing with dark stairways, hallways, basements, bathrooms and entrances. This can lead to the risk of falls and injury, along with unease that comes with not being able to clearly see your surroundings.
Food can quickly spoil when refrigeration fails in an outage, and water can also be shut off if your home relies on a private well that is powered by a pump. If a sump pump is a regular part of your home, an outage can lead to water backup from melting snow or groundwater. On top of all this, without an electricity source, you are unable to charge phones and other devices to contact loved ones, friends, and utility providers or first responders. The inability to use certain medical equipment or work from home is always a concern in a prolonged outage, but when combined with the other winter-specific risks, time spent without electricity in the dead of winter is far from just being inconvenient–it can be downright deadly.
But standby GENERAC generators provide countless benefits during a winter outage. A standby generator allows you to run your heating system, reducing the risk of frozen pipes and water damage. A standby generator also eliminates the need for reliance on unsafe or risky heating sources, thereby preventing carbon monoxide related illnesses and health risks. Even though a heating source may use natural gas, propane, or oil, electricity may be needed for blower motors, controls, thermostats, ignition systems, pumps and other components. GENERAC generators will also keep critical safety systems like lights, medical devices, smoke alarms, and carbon monoxide detectors running, ensuring that if anything does go wrong, you’ll still be alerted.
Portable Generator vs. Standby Generator During Winter
Whether you’re looking for commercial generators or residential generators for Cleveland winters, it's vital that you know the difference between portable and standby generators so that you can make the best decision for your home or business.
Unlike standby GENERAC generators–permanent installations that immediately sense the outage and activate–portable generators must be manually set up as needed. Standby generators are already positioned in the ideal space for safe air flow, fuel access and protection from weather, whereas portable generators must be within a close enough distance to provide power via extension cords. However, this can raise serious concerns about carbon monoxide exposure and may require specialized covers to protect the unit from snow, rain and ice.
As portable generators run out of their small reserve of fuel, it will depend on you to safely add more and keep things running. This requires you to also keep an appropriate fuel supply on hand or have a way to easily and quickly obtain it. Another key concern is that an outage may happen while you are away from home. A standby generator will be able to detect a utility outage, start automatically, transfer designated electrical loads to generator power, and then transfer the load back to utility power when service returns. So long as generator maintenance is regularly done and your unit is in good condition, this should all happen without any input. On the other hand, if you are on vacation when an outage occurs and you typically rely on a portable generator, you could be coming home to broken pipes, a flooded home, and spoiled food stores. Even if the outage happens overnight, if no one is alerted and weather conditions are particularly severe, a lot of damage can happen in those few hours. Clearly, a standby generator is especially useful during winter outages.
Generator Sizing and Proper Load Management
When you work with professional and licensed electricians who routinely install GENERAC generators, they will easily be able to help you determine the right generator size for your needs. The calculation isn’t just based on simple criteria like your home’s square footage. Instead, it incorporates the key systems and appliances you wish to have access to during an outage. The generator installation and maintenance expert will be able to calculate the starting load, and the running load, and find a system that can handle your specific needs and requirements. An undersized system may not adequately support the intended loads, but intentionally oversizing can end up making the investment unattainable or inefficient. It’s not a bad idea to size up if you anticipate adding to the electricity demands in your home, but all of that can be considered with a professional installer–they will help you to select the perfect model.
Your Local Source For Standby GENERAC Generators
Winter outages can interrupt heating, water systems, refrigeration, lighting, communications, and other household essentials. But a properly sized, professionally installed, and well-maintained backup generator can keep selected critical systems operating until utility service is restored. The key is preparing now, well before the first winter storm hits. Don't wait to make your home ready for a winter power outage.
The team at Generator Pros is proud to offer premier models of GENERAC generators to our clients for the best protection against power outages and power quality issues. We handle all phases of commercial, industrial, and residential electrical work involved with generator installation, maintenance, and repair. We have been serving our Ohio and Pennsylvania communities since 1985 and are happy to handle any and all standby and mobile generator related needs for residential, commercial and industrial applications. Our expertise is right there in our name–we’re pros at this, and it’s what we do best.
Our customers love the work we do for them, and we’d love to help you with your next standby generator installation. We are a family-owned and operated local business and have only the greatest respect for our customers and their properties. Contact us today and see how we can make your home or business safer and more self-reliant this and every season!