Alternative Backup Power: WHOLE HOME AUTOMATIC GENERATORS
When it comes to stand by power, the whole house automatic generator still reigns king. When it comes to safety, reliability, ease of use, durability, maintenance, noise levels and efficiency, there just isn’t any competition out there. It just comes with a hefty price tag.
WHole Home Generator
For years homeowners like yourself have been looking for the best solution to the common power outage. Depending on where you live these may come in short bursts of a few hours, or you may be looking at a week or more at a time. If you’re like me, you have candles, flashlights and a plan of action to get you through the small situations that plague the Midwest with high winds and quick storms that seem to come out of nowhere. Don’t get me wrong, as an electrician I do have a plan to counter these annoyances in time. I already have plans in place to install a whole house generator in my next home when I build it. As for now I make do. As you can imagine, I would have one already if they didn’t come at such a cost. It just has to make sense and its all about timing.
Lets quickly go over the pros and cons of having one of these Cadillacs installed at your home.
PRO
They are extremely reliable, and typically come with a maintenance plan so you can be hands off from start to finish and everything in between. This is highly suggested for those with disabilities or medical needs.
PRO
They are quiet. Compared to lesser portable generators, the gas-powered whole house unit is about as quiet as a small running car. When compared with the Blackhawk helicopterlike fury most portable generators make as they dance around these, at least to me, are relatively quiet, if not at least consistently humming.
Con
Price. As most of you have already learned from a little research, the whole house automatic generator sits at the highest price point of all residential stand by power solutions. On average, an installation is said to run anywhere between $8,500 and $15,000. This is all very dependent on where you would like it located in relation to your existing electrical system, how large of a unit you choose, optional maintenance programs, what will need done to run your propane or natural gas line to the required area, if power diverting modules are necessary and several other factors.
Con
Installation. Besides cost, the process of getting one of these bad boys installed can be a bit messy. As you can imagine, you will be making room for a heavy and somewhat cumbersome piece of equipment in your yard. Speaking of your yard, you can expect some work there as well. Between the electricians needing to run their wiring and the plumber trenching a gas line, you can expect a few tracks, mud and some clean up as part of the process.
Pro
Ease/Plug and Play. Your standard automatic generator will start immediately upon a power outage. You can expect them to come on from seconds to a few minutes depending on how they are programmed. They run self-test cycles in the down time to keep maintenance to a minimum. If you’re like me you’re definitely going to want to invest in the manufacturer provided maintenance program. The new models actually send messages to your service provider letting them know when service is due or when problems arise. You can’t get more hands off than that.
When it comes down to it, the decision is always easier once you know what you’re getting in to. If you’re not willing or able to mess with a portable system that requires a good amount of care, management and patience, an automatic system is probably your best choice.
