You may be worried about the safety and health of your family in the case of a long-term power outage to your house this winter. A loss of electrical power during a winter storm can mean serious indoor discomfort. If there are people in your home who depend on powered medical equipment, a loss of power can even be life-threatening. Many residents of Overland Park, KS use a generator as an extra level of insurance. A whole-house generator, installed by professionals, makes an even more reliable option.Portable generators benefit from being easy to use and maintain. But a small portable generator isn’t sufficient to the job when you’re talking about an entire home. (These units are best suited for use on the road, or for camping.) A whole-house generator provides more power… and you cannot install one yourself as a DIY job. You must call experienced electricians with a history of installing generators. You’ll be happier, the process will go more smoothly, and more importantly, your new generator will function exactly the way it is supposed to.
Why Professional Generator Installation Is So Essential
A whole-house generator is a powerful device, and if connected incorrectly to the electrical system of a home, it can lead to serious problems, such as shorting out the entire system. A professional service will oversee the whole process and take care of those little details: things that might not occur to a layman, but which experienced electricians know all about as a matter of course.Proper sizing is also essential for a generator: too small a generator, and you won’t have the power you need; too large a generator, and you risk overloading the electrical system and causing permanent damage to wiring and appliances. It takes a professional to correctly size a whole-house generator. Home energy audits need to be comprehensive and cover everything in your household. Ideally, your new generator should be powerful enough to power every electrical appliance. But if you can only afford a smaller generator, then an energy audit will help you separate the vital appliances in your home (such as medical equipment and refrigerators) from those that can probably stand to be turned off in an emergency (such as an entertainment center or video game system).Finally, most generators run from natural gas. It’s unsafe (and often illegal) for anyone who isn’t professionally licensed to work on an appliance connected to a gas main. A gas leak can result in an explosion or poison members of your household if they breathe it in. Your generator is there to protect your family—so make sure that it works safely as well by always calling on professionals to install it. They have the skills and experience to ensure that everything is working the way it should.