We want to keep the lights on for you!
Generators are a great option for many homeowners. With our electrical grid becoming more and more unstable, generators offer an easy and cost-effective way to keep your entire home or just key appliances powered during an outage. Whether you want a generator that runs on natural gas, propane, gasoline, diesel, or solar power, you need an experienced electrician who can advise you properly on how to install it safely and meet the electrical code for your area. Falcon Electric has that experience.
Generac is the most popular natural gas, gasoline, or diesel brand of home standby generators on the market. However, today there are many other options that can run your entire home, or just essentials like refrigerators, freezers, pumps, a kitchen outlet or two and some lights in your home. We work with all brands of generators.
The key challenge is wiring the power to the key outlets so they can get power from the main electrical panel or from the generator. You do that with a transfer panel, which can be automatic or manual. Automatic transfer panels switch from street AC power to generator AC power as soon as the street power goes out, and some generators can even start automatically. Manual transfer switches allow you to choose which electrical lines in your home to run from the generator or from street AC power. When installing a transfer switch, it’s crucial to ensure that you don’t exceed the power rating of either the transfer panel or the generator. We can help you make sure everything is balanced and safe.
Although manual transfer switches are less expensive than automatic transfer switches, another advantage could be if you have a solar generator like those made by EcoFlow, Bluetti, Aniker and others; and you have a small solar array. If your solar array creates more power than you need to charge your solar generator you can use some of the power produced each day to run appliances or electrical outlets to reduce your electric bill.
We will also warrant our part of the work for 7 years, so you can rest assured that the work will be done right.
Keep In Mind Less Is More
One easy way to improve the performance of your generator in an outage is to reduce the power needs of your home by buying energy efficient appliances when appliances need to be replaced and replacing lighting with LED lighting. Today a 13.5 watt LED bulb can replace a 100 watt incandescent bulb. All of this allows your generator to power more of your home or for longer.
What A Generator Could Mean To You
The customer called inquiring about adding a generator to their home to avoid being without power after another harsh winter storm.
During the consultation, the electrician learned that the customer did not have a specific brand of generator in mind, though Generac is a widely advertised and popular option. The customer shared that in recent years, the area had experienced power outages lasting 4-9 days at a time due to winter storms. These outages had resulted in significant losses and inconveniences, with the customer’s strongest memories being of not having heat for days on end, having all their food spoiled, and being unable to leave for hotels due to pets or closed roads from the weather.
While the area typically experienced shorter power outages lasting a few hours, the extended multi-day outages during the winter months were particularly challenging. The customer wanted a generator capable of running most of their standard single-family home’s loads, allowing them to live almost entirely unaffected by any future outages.
The electrician recommended a 24kW Generac whole-home generator, which is commonly used and capable of providing 100 amps of power to the home, making it suitable for most standard single-family homes. This generator was wired into the home using an automatic transfer switch, eliminating the need for any manual intervention from the homeowner. When the power goes out, the generator is started and the power is switched over from street power to the generator automatically.
The installation process was relatively seamless, with coordination between the electrician and the gas company to ensure proper hookup and testing upon completion.
With the new 24kW Generac natural gas whole-home generator installed, the customer can now rest assured that they will be nearly unaffected by any future extended power outages. The generator will automatically turn on, even when the home is unoccupied, providing them with the peace of mind that they will not have to endure the hardships of being without heat, losing food, or being stranded due to impassable roads during harsh winter storms.
Internal Combustion Engine Generators Things To Know
ICE generators should be run every month for 30 minutes to an hour to get them up to temperature, move fuel through fuel filters and ensure there is no water in the fuel. Long periods of rain and high humidity can cause water build up in fuel tanks. Gasoline generators need to use enough fuel so it can be replenished to keep the fuel from losing its octane which happens over time. Diesel fueled generators tend to be subject to water in the fuel, and that water growing algae which plugs fuel filters.
This is also a good time to do a visual inspection of hoses, wires, air filters and the unit in general. And check for standard maintenance such as oil and filter changes.
Along with running the generator there should also be a load test where some or all of the things it will need to power in an outage can be powered to ensure transfer switches are working, and the generator’s inverter is working properly.
Internal Combustion Engine Portable Or Home Standby Generator
Generac is the leading manufacturer of home standby generators for whole home or partial home generator systems sold in the US. The advantage of this type of system is when it is installed venting of exhaust fumes is taken into consideration to make sure carbon monoxide and other deadly exhaust gasses do not get into the home.
There are many portable generators options with a wide range of output power from 1000 watts (1 kilowatt) which is less than a kitchen outlet that is rated at 1500 watts in general, to 30,000 watts and more. The advantage of a portable generator is it can be taken with you. So if you are camping in a place where there is no power provided, you can take your power with you. And the cost can be really small, a 2,000 watt generator can be purchased for under $700 which would run a refrigerator and some lights, or an electric hot plate for cooking in an emergency.
The downside of portable generators is making sure they are far enough away from the house that the exhaust fumes do not get into the home. Most small portable generators are built on small gasoline engine designs that do not have fuel filters, and thus they rely on the oil being changed to keep dirt and water out of the engine which leads to a shorter overall run life.
So what are your needs in a power outage? How many appliances do you want to be able to use? Do you want to run an electric heater, or will you install a transfer switch to power your natural gas furnace?
Solar Generators or Battery Powered Inverters
In January of 2023 EcoFlow with Costco put solar generators on the map. Many other brands had existed before, but EcoFlow with their 3,500 watt output with boost mode up to 4,500 watts and the ability to recharge with 1,600 watts of solar in 2 1/2 hours made solar generators practical and a more ecologically friendly option with enough power to power a camper or a home refrigerator, lights, cooking plate/microwave and electric heater in a power outage. Best of all you can charge it to full from the A/C in your home and store it away for months, or charge your EV if you run low on power before you can get to the next EV charger.
In 2022 and 2023 whole home solar generators which output 5 to 36 kilowatts at 120v and 240v came on the market, some top name brands are.
- EcoFlow Ultra
- Bluetti EP800 and EP900
- Anker Solix X1
- Anker Solex F3800
- Dakota Lithium Home Backup
Some popular battery based solutions are also available from Tesla, EG4, Growatt and others. These systems use a lithium battery bank that they charge and invert into electrical power and are designed to be attached to fixed solar panels that charge the system daily.
Portable Solar Generators Things To Know
Portable solar generators come in a wider range of output power levels than gas generators, at under 2000 watts they are fine to power a TV, charge phones; 2000-4500 watt portable systems can provide backup power to some of your home systems or power your camper on vacation. The best part of owning a portable solar generator is you can provide power where an extension cord will not reach, and you can fully charge them via the A/C outlets in your home and store them for the day of your power outage, no oil changes, no testing inverters, etc. And when you do need to use them, you can pull out your portable solar panels and recharge them. No deadly exhaust fumes to worry about.
Solar generators are of course eco friendly and renewable. All portable units can be tied via a transfer panel into your home’s electrical system which we can help with using a brand supplied transfer panel or a quality 3rd party transfer panel. And with a fixed solar array outside, they can be used daily to reduce your power consumption on some of your home circuits like refrigerators and lights.
Call the team at Falcon Services now to discover why we’re a leading name in home generators today. We’ll supply you with our recommendations for a system and a cost-effective estimate.
We also service EV vehicle charging stations, panel replacement, circuit breaker replacement and more.
