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5 Reasons You Need a Home Standby Generator Now

backup generater

A home standby generator, otherwise known as a home backup generator, is no longer an optional appliance for many homeowners today.

With its unprecedented thunderstorms, tornado activity, flooding, and outdated water control infrastructure, the entire Muskoka district has been subjected to intense and unusual weather activity over the past several months.

Ongoing climate change is contributing to ever-warming temperatures across Canada, which is thought to be fueling this strange and severe weather activity.

In light of these occurrences, if you have been considering adding a home standby generator to your family home safety toolkit, there has never been a better time than now!

What Is a Standby Generator?

A standby generator is like a power guard. While you have power, the generator will just sit quietly in its place. It won’t draw any power or cost you any money.

This is how the standby generator earned its nickname of “home backup” generator. You will quickly see why, the moment the power to your home goes out.

The instant you lose power to your home, your home backup generator will sense it. It will then switch on and supply all the power you need until your central power is restored.

The moment central power is restored, your generator will sense it once again and turn itself off. Then it will sit quietly until the next moment it is needed.

Features of Standby Generators

Here at Gravenhurst Plumbing, Heating & Electric, we are proud distributors of the Generac brand of generators.

Generac’s line of standby generators offers you a compact, space-saving design packed full of cutting-edge, cost-saving features such as these:

  • Mobile-link technology permits you to check on your generator when you are away from home.

  • Fuel choice lets you choose from on-grid and off-grid generators powered by natural gas, liquid propane and diesel, and all offer fuel-efficient operation.

  • Certain generators offer an intuitive remote control device with multiple language options.

  • Standby generators can tap right into the central electrical panel so you don’t have to deal with extension cords.

  • Certain generators come code-ready for installation and can be placed as close to the house as 18 inches!

  • These “smart” generators auto-sense a power outage and kick into gear, whether they are routed for whole-home power restoration or simply protection of sensitive appliances and electronics.

  • With different power levels, you can select the generator with the right capacity for your home’s average power draw.

5 Reasons to Invest in a Home Backup Generator

In today’s uncertain climate, a better question might be, “Why not?” Still, a generator, like any other home improvement decision, can represent a significant investment.

So let’s take a quick look at some of the many reasons homeowners tell us they are ready to add a home backup generator to their home safety toolkit:

  1. Temperature control. It is one thing to lose power in the spring or fall when temperature is typically temperate and manageable. But imagine if the power failed in winter when the temperature outside was a mind-numbing -26 degrees Celsius!

  2. Safeguarding perishables. For a single person who is used to eating out, a loss of power probably won’t do much damage in terms of food perishables. But once you have a family, there can easily be several hundred dollars’ worth of refrigerated and frozen food at stake if the power goes out.

  3. Hot water. No one likes stone-cold showers, even if it is brutally hot outside. And just try to imagine waking up without your morning coffee or tea… that is usually all it takes to convince caffeine addicts of the value of having a standby generator during a power outage!

  4. Basement flooding. In some homes, the sump pump stops working when the electricity goes out. The easiest fix for this is to equip the sump pump with a backup battery. But another equally easy fix is to invest in a standby generator, which can do a lot more for you during an outage than just run your sump pump.

  5. Resale value. When it comes time to sell your home, the presence of a standby generator can add to its resale value and appeal.

How to Choose a Standby Generator

There are two basic kinds of generators: portable and stationary.

Portable generator

The portable generator is what most people are most familiar with—typically, this is a compact, lightweight generator that needs to be manually plugged in before it will power on and work. It usually powers only one or two essential appliances at a time.

Stationary generator

The stationary generator typically needs to be installed by an electrical professional and will hook into the central power source to automatically power on and off during power outages. It usually is able to power several essential appliances at a time, or in some cases, an entire household.

Then there are two basic models of standby generators: a managed generator and a whole house generator.

Managed generator

A managed generator will power a suite of essential items, such as a sump pump, refrigerator/freezer, security system, garage door opener, and furnace fan. You can choose which items your standby generator powers, but you won’t be able to power your whole home all at once with this type of generator.

Whole house generator

A whole house generator can “act as if” your regular power source has been restored, powering any and every appliance and gadget in your home at the same time.

Clearly, you will need to invest more to power your whole house versus choosing to power only certain essentials during a power outage.

Give Us a Call

Need help selecting and installing a standby generator? Call us at 877-885-3403 or contact us online!

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