Stationary or Portable Units?

When it comes to back-up generators, there are two main options; a stationary unit, or a portable unit. Not sure which one will be best for you, that's why I'm posting the information, in hopes to inform your decision on which is best for you.  After the following section, its still not clear, I would love to give a free consultation.

STATIONARY UNITS

Stationary units are the cream of the crop home back up systems.  The sense when utility power has been lost, fires up your generator, and then transfers your generator power to your home within seconds! You literally need to do nothing! Once utility power is restored, once again the system senses it, then transfers back to the utility without seeing a skip of power. Also, this system comes with tighter parameters with the power output it delivers, compared to portable units.  What does that me for you, the consumer? Great question. It means that some sensative electrical equiptment or devices aren't exposed to as many power surges, or brownouts.  This is a real convenient system, however; there are some drawback. For example, the cost of the installed system. It is a very expensive set-up, running upwards of tens of thousands of dollars! They typically run on either natural gas or liquid propane.  During some outages, the city of Cloverdale, lost its Natural Gas supply.  Although i don't believe this is going to be a natural occurance, it still happened. Overall this type of system warrants some serious consideration depending on your situation. Call (530) 513-0040, if you need to schedule a cosultation.

PORTABLE UNITS

Portable units seem to be the most common system for whole home power back-up.  It is substantially more affordable compared to the stationary units, however; this system needs to have some electrical compatabilites in order to work.  One of them being physical space in your panel. Don't let that deter you, there are many ways to create the space, but allow me to get back to the benefits of the portable units.  Did i mention the affordablility factor? It is close to a fraction of the cost. I mean, in some cases, 1/10th of the cost of a stationary unit! Some of these portable units are capable of delivering power to your entire home, depending on what your load demands.  So you ultimatly can power your entire home for a fraction of the cost. Starting to see why this is a more popular option?  That is probaly the largest pro about the portbale units, here are some drawbacks.  Most units run on gasoline, and some units are duel or even tri-fuel, meaning they can run on gasoline, natural gas, and even liquid propane.  These are nice options, but it also means you can run out of fuel. Now depending on how long you expect to be out of power, you may need to either store a significant amount of fuel, or may need to break away from home to gather more fuel. Another drawback to this type of system is power output. Most of these portable units are a simple motor with some magnets that spin really fast to create power.  They aren't really refined machines, and from that, they tend to have more surges and brownouts during operation compared to the stationary units. For example, when a portable unit picks up the load from, lets say, a dryer.  The time it takes for the generator to realize the new demand, there is a split second of lag to equal the demand, some GFCI receptacles within the house sense that lag, and will trip the outlet. For the most part not a big issue, however; for those of you who have a fridge or freeze out in your garage, odds are, they are protected by a GFCI receptable.  So if that outlet trips, your power gets interupted to your fridge/freezer. That could be a very messy surprise. 

CLOSING

So both systems have pros and cons. Some outweigh others, and some not so much, but really, that decision is for you to make.  There are some more options out there, and I would love to discuss them with you, so please, call me up and allow me to help you make one of the most rewarding decision you can in today's times.