Many people who live in areas that are prone to power failures find it worthwhile to have Generac generators installed. These high-quality machines can provide as much power as is needed to run important equipment. Some are even powerful enough to allow a household to run everything that it normally does. Here are some things to think about when considering having a company like Penco Electrical Contractor put in a generator for your household:
What do You Want to Be Able to Run?
The furnace, refrigerator, and freezer are items that you will likely consider essential to have in operation. Therefore, you should always factor them into your power-need calculations. If your house’s water comes from a well, you’ll also need power to run the pump. How much energy you’ll need for your essential equipment depends, in part, on the sizes involved. A furnace that can heat a 3,000-square-foot house will be much more powerful, and therefore more energy-hungry, than one that only needs to heat a 750-square-foot cabin.
Another thing to consider is whether you’ll want to run an electric oven or range while the power is out. If so, you’ll need a much more powerful generator. These appliances can suck down 3,000 watts or more when both the oven and range are being run. If your stove runs on gas, you’ll need much less electricity for it. You will need some, at least if the appliance is new. Modern gas stoves have electric igniters. While it’s still possible to light gas range burners with a match, the same is not true of the oven part.
Where Does the Generator Get Its Power?
With portable generators, the power often comes from gasoline. This is definitely a problem if a storm knocks out the power at the local gas stations as well as your house or if the stations run out of gas! For this reason, permanently-installed Generac generators avoid the use of this fuel. Instead, they are hooked up to natural gas lines where such lines are available. In areas with no natural gas, propane is used. When natural gas is used as a fuel, the generator can stay running indefinitely. Even a 2-week power outage won’t be a problem. If propane is used, the generator will run until the tank is empty.
