Is your home prepared to lose power from PG&E for more than just an hour or two? Probably not, most households depend solely on the electricity provided by our utility company. If your household can’t go without power, you may want to consider getting a generator. What you will need to consider is what type of generator is best for you, an automatic standby type utilizing natural gas or a portable type utilizing gasoline with a manual transfer switch.
Standby generators have a few major advantages over portable generators. These advantages are an automatic start, when utility power goes out. Standby generators are permanently mounted in place and utilize cleaner fuel, either natural gas or propane, which ever you prefer. The nice thing about natural gas is you have an unlimited supply from PG&E. The last major advantage is the low running costs and all-weather operation, natural gas and propane is more cost effective than gasoline. Standby power systems start automatically within seconds after a home’s electricity goes out. A transfer switch immediately senses when power is interrupted and transfers power generation to the generator. It also senses when power is restored and transfers the load back to the utility source and signals the generator to shut down. The power generator is installed outdoors and is linked directly to your home’s natural gas fuel supply.
Portable generators biggest advantage over an automatic standby type is the cost. However, due to the overall costs of fuel consumption when the generator is running and the initial cost of the manual transfer switch needed with this system, the price savings aren’t as great as one might expect. A manual transfer switch is a 3 position selector switch that has a switch position for, utility power, off, and generator power. The transfer switch is required by code to ensure that you never back feed power into the utility’s power grid due to the shock hazard involved. If you did not have a transfer switch and your portable generator was running, a PG&E employee working on an electrical line ahead of your electrical meter could think a line was un-energized and would find out the hard way, through an electrical shock or flash that the line actually was still energized.
Home generators bring a sense of safety, security and convenience to a home. In your house, generator power can bring light during a summer storm and heat if the power is lost during winter. If power is lost in your community for an extended period of time, a home generator can save you the expense of having to relocate. If you are ready to make this great investment at your residence, give us a call and we will walk you through it!
