It became essential to have a backup generator at home with an increase in recurring power outages. There are many reasons and needs to justify the presence of a backup generator at home.
If a blackout stays for a day, then a backup generator can prevent the disruption of your day. You can make meals and do laundry. In short, you can continue with your usual tasks.
During long power outages, it keeps you and your family safe and comfortable.
It powers the lights and electronics and other tools of your house and can keep running essential appliances like a refrigerator and sump pump so that your food stays good and the basement dry.
In this post, we will go through reasons why you need a backup generator for your house, and is it really that necessary to have one?
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Why There Are Power Outages?
There will be many power outages during the year, and some will be short and some long. In some cases, you don’t get power for weeks. The reasons for them are different, but about 50% of extended power outages are due to natural causes.
Lightning, heavy rain, and wind can disrupt the electrical power grid. Also, natural disasters like storms and hurricanes are responsible for long-term power outages.
While 30% of extended power outages are because of some or other equipment failure in the system, this may take considerable time to replace or repair the faulty equipment. And rest of it will be due to some or other man-made reasons. To keep yourself and your family comfortable in this situation, you need a backup generator at home.
What Is a Home Backup Generator?
A generator that powers your house during a blackout or brownout is known as a backup generator. You can have different types of generators as a backup power source, but, most commonly, people will either have a portable generator or a standby generator.
Depending on their power rating, it can power some appliances of your house or the entire house, all of the appliances which are in the house.
To learn more about different generators, visit generator-review.com.
Why Every Household Needs a Generator?
Here are the reasons why there is a need for a backup generator at your house.
To Have Power in A Power Outage
A few homes are prepared to tackle spontaneous long-term power outages. But, if you have a backup generator, then you don’t have to worry. A standby generator will automatically kick in when the power outage is detected. It can run most of the appliances of your house. It will keep the lights on and the freezer running.
When people don’t have generators at home, some may choose to crash at friends for a few nights or will check in motels. This exposes the house to burglars, and the chances of burglary will increase. If you have a generator, then it can maintain the comfort of your house.
To Prevent the Interruption in Work
An extended power outage can lead to increased work downtime if you work from home. It may even hinder your business when you operate it from home. A backup generator will run your electronics so that you can continue your work during an outage.
Standby generators are noisy, so if you work from home, then the noise may disturb you, and it stays in one place, so you can’t move it. So you can invest in a portable generator. It can be put at a distance so the noise will decrease, and you can work with improved focus.
To Ensure that Food Doesn’t Spoil
A power outage will lead to spoiled food. When your fridge doesn’t have electricity to run, the food will start spoiling if the power doesn’t return in 4 hours. Bacterias will start growing in the food. A generator can prevent that from happening. It can save your money and food by powering the refrigerator.
So, if you stock your fridge for a week or generally experience a power outage that stays for more than 4 hours, it is a good decision to invest in a backup generator.
To Prevent Pipes from Freezing:
A generator will keep your pipes from bursting in the winter. You will already have many things to worry about during a power outage; a backup generator can keep burst pipes off your list. When the power is cut off, the heater will stop working, and the temperature drops.
Lower temperatures lead to expansion of water which can result in burst pipes. It is recommended that you always maintain the house temperature above 55 degrees to prevent that.
A backup generator ensures that a comfortable temperature inside the house is maintained.
To Operate Medical Equipment:
If you have medical equipment in your house that needs electricity to run, which you might need in emergency conditions, then a backup generator is a must. It will power the equipment so that it properly operates. This kind of medical equipment involves, for example, a dialysis machine, an air breather, etc.
To Run a Sump Pump:
A sump pump is essential for a house that needs to keep working continuously. It flushes out the water and keeps things nice, clean, and dry. In areas where flooding is frequent, a sump pump is needed; they are mostly situated in the basements to keep the water out.
You need the pump to work during the heavy rain, but unfortunately, most of the power outages also occur during heavy rain or storms.
So, to keep it working, a generator is needed. It will keep your mind at ease knowing when the rain stops, and you won’t have to clean up the basement and other parts of the house.
To Tackle the DIY Tasks Around the House:
When you are doing some repairing work or installing a new fence, you will need to use power tools to make your task easier. But, the cord of the tool may prove to be short. If it doesn’t reach where you want it to then, you will need a portable generator.
You can have rechargeable power tools, but you will frequently need to change batteries and take them home to recharge, which is a hassle.
A portable generator provides the power on wheels, and you can take it with you wherever you need. A generator will power your tools to complete the project in as little time as possible.
