What To Know About Standby Generator Installation For Your Trexlertown, PA Home
What You Need to Know About Residential
Automatic Standby Generators For
Your Trexlertown, PA Home
Where To Install Yours And
What To Be Aware Of
Because Pennsylvania is subject to rain, wind, hail, and snowstorms, it’s important for homeowners to consider protecting themselves against power outages. A residential automatic standby generator in your Trexlertown, PA home could prove invaluable during inclement weather.
A reliable generator keeps your lights on, refrigerator running, and heating and cooling systems operational when the power goes out. It keeps your household running as usual, minimizes accidents, and guards you against intruders.
A generator prevents food spoilage, which can occur within hours if food is refrigerated and within days if it is frozen.
If you’re considering installing a residential automatic standby generator, you should know the following:
1. How Does A Residential Automatic Standby
Generator Benefit Your Home And Family?
A residential automatic standby generator offers numerous important benefits to homeowners, including the following:
- Safety
- Security
- Indoor Comfort
- Prevents Spoiled Food
- Maintains Household Activities
By keeping the lights on, occupants are less likely than their neighbors to sustain injuries while navigating dark hallways or staircases or while entering or leaving the home. The house is also less likely to be the victim of burglars or intruders. Thieves will likely skip a well-lit home in favor of a darkened one.
The generator also keeps your HVAC and refrigeration systems operational while the power is out so you maintain comfortable indoor temperatures and your food remains unspoiled.
Finally, it powers other necessary appliances that enable you to continue all other household activities. For instance, it powers electrical kitchen appliances like blenders, toasters, dishwashers, clothes washers, dryers, and microwave ovens so you can prepare food, do laundry, and avoid the cost of dining out.
It keeps computer and communications equipment up and running so you can keep in touch with friends, family, and business associates. You can watch TV, play computer games, and listen to music even when grid power is down.
Finally, by maintaining a continuous power source for delicate electronics, you reduce the risks to sensitive electronic systems. A power surge can damage or destroy the inner workings of computers and communications equipment when grid power returns suddenly.
2. How Do Residential Automatic Standby Generators
Differ From Manual Generators?
Generators come in two main types – manual and automatic. Residential automatic standby generators offer numerous advantages to the manual type.
Manual generators require you to pull them out of storage, connect them to the house’s electrical system, and engage them manually – often in the dark – before they restore power to your house.
Automatic generators sense when the power goes out and automatically turn on within a few moments to restore power to the home. They sense when grid power returns and return to standby mode, awaiting the next power outage.
They even turn themselves on weekly for 15 minutes to charge the battery and ensure the parts are fully lubricated.
Manual generators are less expensive and more portable, but residential automatic standby generators are far more convenient and boost the resale value of your home.
3. How Do You Install A Residential Automatic Standby
Generator Safely In Your Trexlertown, PA Home?
To install an automatic standby generator safely, you must locate it outdoors and not in a garage, shed, basement, or other indoor area. When running, a generator gives off toxic fumes that can be dangerous when breathed in. It needs considerable ventilation to operate safely.
Locate it well away from occupied areas so the exhaust can dissipate before occupants breathe it. Point the exhaust port away from your house and away from where people gather outdoors to prevent fume and carbon monoxide exposure.
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, odorless gas that attaches to the hemoglobin in red blood cells and prevents the body’s proper oxygen uptake. Short-term exposure can lead to flu-like symptoms like dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. Prolonged exposure could cause organ damage or even death.
Furthermore, if contained indoors, CO and other exhaust gases can build up inside and pose a risk of combustion and fire.
Place your residential automatic standby generator on a raised concrete pad to prevent flood waters from reaching it and to provide stability in muddy or wet areas.
Finally, always shut off and wait for the generator to cool down before refueling. The heat from the appliance could ignite the fuel fumes if the machine is hot.
Install A Residential Automatic Standby Generator
By Calling Shafnisky Electric
Shafnisky Electric has served Lehigh County for more than 35 years. When you need an experienced electrical contractor to install a residential automatic standby generator in your Trexlertown, PA home, contact us at (610) 435-2237 for a free, no-obligation quote.