Erratic Weather Patterns: Homeowners Need a Stand-By Generator

Talk about the weather: this year, the standard conversation-starter has been more than mere small talk. Record-setting severe storms, droughts, and flooding have reminded us of just how severe weather can be on a community. When bad weather does strike, even those outside the path of the storm are often affected, as the power lines that are severed or overloaded by lightning can leave large parts of the Cleveland area without electricity.

To avoid the costs, inconveniences, and safety concerns that come from being without power, many Ohio homeowners and businesses have chosen to invest in stand-by generators.

Stand-by generators ensure that you never have to go without electricity. When the power lines go down, a stand-by generator automatically starts up, providing your building with a steady supply of electricity at the same voltage and frequency as the regular power grid. Stand-by generators draw their fuel from your natural gas line, so they never have to be refueled. They can provide continuous power even if the blackout lasts for days or weeks.

Stand-by generators can provide enough electricity to power even large office buildings. But, you do pay for size, so it is important to know how much electricity your home or business really requires. There are a couple of different strategies you can use with stand-by generators:

• Whole-building generators are sized large enough to power everything in the building, even if all the appliances are running at once.
• Essential circuit generators are smaller, and are wired into only some of the circuits in your house–the ones you deem most essential. For instance, you might power the kitchen and HVAC system, but leave the entertainment system dark.

In addition, there are “smart” switches on the market that can allow your small generator to power the entire building–by only powering parts of it at a time. This can be effective because even your HVAC system and fridge are only on part of the time, and a smart generator system can redirect that power when the appliance cycles off.

To learn more, contact the Cleveland-area experts at Stack Heating & Cooling. We’ll be happy to answer your questions.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information, click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Stack Heating services Cleveland, Ohio and the surrounding areas. To get started, check out our website.