GOOD TO HAVE A BACKUP PLAN
Automatic generators can be handy
Where I live in Canada, we get about a dozen electrical power failures each year. Some of these are short, lasting only a few minutes (we had one just now as I was writing this). Other failures are eight-hour “scheduled” power interruptions that shut down entire business sectors for the day.
At best, this is all very annoying. At worst, it makes me wonder what’s happening to our world.
There’s no doubt that the reliability of electric power has declined over the past 30 years — at least where I live, anyway. So why are we less able to operate a decent country than in years past? I have my theories … .
But there’s good news as far as electricity goes. The quality and affordability of automatic backup generators has risen big-time over the past decade.
What’s an automatic generator? The idea is new to most people, but I’m seeing more and more of them being installed outside homes, businesses, medical clinics and office buildings. One small community near my place even has an automatic backup generator for the entire village. Why are things changing? It’s not just because people are tired of grid power they can’t count on.
Automatic backup generators create electricity for your home when the grid fails, but these models operate differently from the kind of portable generators that you might already know about. Backup models are stationary, sitting on the ground outdoors all year long within a weatherproof enclosure. They’re permanently connected to the wiring in your house, and they can also sense the presence or absence of power coming from the grid. So when a power failure happens, your backup generator fires up automatically, providing you with a constant source of electricity. When grid power comes back on, the generator shuts itself off.
The really surprising thing about backup generators is how inexpensive they’ve become.
In 1988, I bought a portable 3,500-watt generator for $3,500. This size of unit is enough to power a kettle and fry an egg at the same time — nothing more. The price I paid translates to about $6,350 in today’s money. Fast-forward to 2016, and you can get a 12,500-watt automatic backup generator with the necessary switching gear for $4,500. A unit like this delivers enough power to handle most things in an ordinary house, all at the same time, delivering 350 per cent more power than my first generator did, but for less money. Like I said, given the decline of power reliability, this whole cheaper-and-better automatic generator thing is good news — but there’s a drawback.
Automatic backup generators operate without control from you, but they do require some serious installation work first. They need a base to sit on outdoors, they need to connect to your existing household wiring, and they need to connect to a tank of propane, or a natural gas pipe, to operate. But once all that’s done, power failures become little more than power flickers as your backup unit automatically kicks in as needed.
After years of pulling out my portable generator when the power goes out, hooking it up, then calling neighbours to see when power has come back on so I can unhook the generator (sometimes just a few minutes after firing it up), I’m installing an automatic backup generator at my place. I went with a brand called Champion. They offer the best combination of good price, impressive reviews and Canadian customer service that I’ve seen.
Right now, I’m figuring out the logistics of wiring, choosing an installation location and propane tank details. Everything should be in place for the fall, when we get more than the usual number of power failures. I’m actually looking forward to it.