The hurricane season is upon us and now is the time for homeowners in Great Falls, VA to consider selecting a standby generator for their home and their family’s peace of mind. No longer do you have to be inconvenienced when your power goes out.
Power outages can be quite costly and extremely dangerous. Prolonged power outages can cause your food to spoil, pipes to freeze in freezing weather, basements to flood, and those people who depend on medical devices to be threatened for their life if these devices don’t have electrical power.
Standby generators can help make your life so much simpler in cases of prolonged power outages because these generators are permanently installed and turn on automatically once you lose utility power. You don’t even have to be at home.
To help in selecting of your standby generator, you will need to consider your family’s needs and exactly what you want your generator to power if you lose utility power.
How Much Power Will You Need?
First, you will need to decide if you want to power your central air conditioner unit during a power outage. If you have a 4-ton (48,000 BTU) air conditioner unit, you will need at least a 17-watt generator.
Next, add up the number of watts for all the electrical devices you want to supply power to with your generator.
Divide the total number of watts by 1,000 and that will give you the total kilowatts (KW) and then look for a generator rated for that output or higher.
Automatic Transfer Switch
This is the device that tells your generator to start once you lose electrical power. Automatic transfer switches come in a variety of sizes. Typically, match the transfer switch to the main breaker in your electrical panel. If you have a 200-Amp main breaker, then you will need a 200-Amp automatic transfer switch.
Alternatively, just leave it to the professionals at Power Systems Integration and we will send one of our licensed and trained installers to your home in Great Falls, VA for a free assessment. You are under no obligation to purchase anything from us.
Our professionals will discuss your backup power needs for your family and home and then recommend the size generator unit you will need. They will also discuss what is involved during the installation process and where the best location will be outside for the unit to sit. They will then give you a written estimate for the cost of the standby generator and the installation costs at your home in Great Falls, VA.