Should you buy a home generator?

6/21/2022 (Permalink)

When we do emergency planning for commercial buildings, one of the first things we ask about is the generator. Where is it? What does it power? How much power can it put out?

That’s because having reliable backup power is basically non-negotiable in most large facilities. At the very least, during an evacuation or an outage, people need to be able to safely get out of the building without tripping over each other.

But that’s a commercial business. What about your home? What are the benefits of investing in a home generator?

We’ll skip the obvious answer (you get power) and focus on two major disasters that can be avoided with generator power.

The first is spoiled food. If your power goes out for a significant period of time, then all of the food in your fridge or freezer is going to be at risk.

Without a generator, you’re going to end up throwing out a lot of stuff. In some rare cases, people actually forget about their freezers for days when the power goes out, leading not just to spoliation but a full-on biohazard.

The second is your sump pump. Consider the fact that your power is most likely to go out as a result of a storm. Storms bring the potential for major flooding, and no power means no sump pump keeping your basement dry. A generator can keep your pump running no matter what the scenario.

We’re not saying that you have to have a generator, but we’ve seen it come in handy quite a bit over the years.