Illumination: A Tale of Backup Power
With Hurricane Florence making her presence known and more hurricanes to come over the season, it has a lot of our customers asking us what their options are for generators.
There are two types of generators for the consumer to choose from for their power needs.
First, is the portable generator. When your power goes you, you start up this gas powered generator and plug your appliances into it. The costs on these varies by about $1000 depending on how much power output.
Second, is the standby generator. These are powered by natural gas or propane and automatically start when the power goes off. These can costs you several thousand dollars.
Which one is best for you?
You'll want to start by adding up how much power you'll actually need. Check the labels on all the appliances that you will need and add up their wattages. Multiply this number by 1.5 (This will factor in the energy needed to get the appliances started) to get the amount you'll need.
Once you've figured out the amount of power that you will need, you'll need to factor in how often you expect to lose power during hurricane season and for how long you will lose power. If you only expect the power to be off briefly, then a portable generator is probably best for you. However, if you're in an area that takes longer to regain power, you may want to make the investment in a standby generator.
Come on down to Santee Hardware if you're still unsure and we can help you decide.
