Like most people, you’ve probably built a life of convenience by accumulating electronics, devices, and appliances that run on electricity and complete tasks or solve problems for you. Unfortunately, almost nothing in your Farmington Hills, MI, will function if your power goes out. You’ll have to make do without everything from your refrigerator to your HVAC system. This situation is especially problematic during times of temperature extremes.
The good news is that this doesn’t have to be the case. Whole-house generators instantly kick into action as soon as residential outages occur. Read on to discover 10 outstanding benefits of having a backup generator installed.
1. Standby Generators Offer a Long-Lasting Power Supply
According to the Farmer’s Electric Cooperative, the average duration of a power outage is about 2.5 hours. However, they could last much longer in Farmington Hills, where winter temperatures often drop down into the teens. During severe storms and times with below-freezing wind, it might take days or weeks for your utility company to resolve the underlying cause of an outage. This is a long time to have your perishable goods stored in makeshift coolers or to spend huddled in blankets for warmth.
Standby generators provide long-lasting power. Most units will run long enough to provide electricity during an extended outage. Most backup generators are designed to run a mid-sized home continuously for about 500 hours or 20 days before needing maintenance.
2. Standby Generators Can Power Your Entire Home
In the interest of limiting demand on your generator, you certainly don’t want to use your next power outage to run your dishwasher, washing machine, and HVAC system all at once, but you probably could. Standby generators offer a lot more power than small, portable generators do. While a portable generator will supply between 3,000 and 8,500 watts, a whole-house generator can have an output as high as 20,000 watts.
3. Seamlessly Transition From Darkness to Light
There’s nothing like having your power go off to remind you just how dark the interior of your property can truly be. Although most homeowners go to bed with all of their lights switched off, residual lighting from plugged-in appliances and outdoor fixtures finds their way in. In the sheer and total darkness of a blackout event, you and your family might be unnerved.
Standby generators are designed to seamlessly switch the electricity demands of homes from utility companies’ power supplies to their own. Your lights might go down for a few seconds or more, but they’ll be right back on in a flash.
4. Protect Residents With Special Needs
Having a backup generator in your house is essential if any household members are living with chronic, terminal, or age-related illnesses that require the around-the-clock use of electrically powered medical equipment. Ventilators, oxygen concentrators, medication monitors, and mobility devices will remain powered up and functional throughout outages if you have a generator. This benefit can prevent the exacerbation of symptoms, increased reliance on outside medical support, and having to move to a hotel room.
When considering the special needs of building residents, it’s also important to account for the requirements of your pets. Do you have fish that rely on a heater and filter? Do you have an animal that can’t survive long without the warmth of a special light? Owning a whole-house generator will keep your animal companions safe and comfortable if there is a power outage.
5. Limit Your Outage-Related Losses
For many homeowners, power outages seem to happen just after they’ve loaded their refrigerators and deep freezers with mounds of food. Whether you’ve just made your biweekly shopping trip to a local grocery store or purchased a year’s worth of beef at a nearby cattle ranch, a standby generator will help you keep your goods fresh and safe for consumption.
When power outages are prolonged and widespread, they can have an unfortunate impact on local food supplies. If everyone in your neighborhood loses their meat, eggs, milk, and other perishable goods due to an outage, they will be looking for these things in-store when the power comes back on.
Worse still, if grocery stores were impacted by the same outage event, they may have few to no supplies to meet the sudden and dramatic increase in demand. Rather than dealing with overcrowded stores that may not have what you need on hand, a generator will allow you to wait out the fallout after a power outage.
In addition, with more consumers buying food in bulk to save money, many households have a lot to lose during outages. If you have stashed loads of goods away, investing in a whole-house generator is vital for protecting both your labor and your investment in bulk shopping.
6. Avoid Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Surprisingly, one of the common causes of carbon monoxide poisoning is cooking indoors with outdoor cooking equipment. Countless homeowners make the major mistake of firing up their camping stoves for warmth and to prepare meals, even though they lack feasible ways to vent them.
While you might know better, desperation during times of exceedingly cold weather could lead to risk-taking. Having a whole-house generator eliminates this problem. You and everyone else in your household can eat well and rest in a warm, cozy environment without having to leverage potentially dangerous survival tactics.
7. Enjoy Peace and Quiet
If you’ve ever owned and operated a portable generator, you might expect a whole-house generator to rumble to life and make a non-stop series of distracting sounds until it powers down. However, modern whole-house generators offer whisper-quiet operation. With weatherproof housing and layers of sound-dampening insulation, yours might be virtually undetectable when running.
8. Prevent Surge-Related Damages
Minor disruptions in the flow of electricity across power lines result in the delivery of higher than normal voltage each time power is restored. This is one of several reasons why your lights might flicker even though no major appliance has been turned on.
During power outages caused by weather-related or other disruptions in utility service, properly installed whole-house generators serve as one layer of reliable surge protection. When power is restored, your generator will stand between your home’s electrical system and any sudden influx of excess electricity. Modern generators have surge protection features built in.
9. Protect Your Plumbing
During the heart of winter, exceedingly cold temperatures can cause your home’s pipes to freeze. Maintaining an indoor temperature of at least 55 degrees Fahrenheit will help you avoid ruptured pipes, water damage, and expensive plumbing repairs.
10. Keep Your Security System Up and Running
When everyone and everything in your neighborhood is cloaked in darkness, you’ll want a functional home security system. As with everything else that’s powered by electricity in your household, a standby generator will keep your home security system up and running. In fact, most security systems will barely react to the near-seamless transition from your utility company’s power supply to your generator.
Contact the Professionals
At AJ Danboise Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical, we have been serving the residents of Farmington, MI, since 1925. We offer heating, cooling, plumbing, and electrical services. To learn more about our whole-house generators or schedule an appointment, contact AJ Danboise Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical today!
