| |
 BACKUP
POWER
By
Lou Manfredini
When I
was growing up, a power failure was dealt with by having a
flashlight and a few candles lying around. It was actually
kind of fun. But now, considering the amount of work people
do at home, the complexity of their lives, and the shortage
of free time, a power failure is more often greeted with dread.
Add to this the specter of "brown-outs" and rolling blackouts
as power companies struggle with shortages, and it becomes
hugely desirable to find a way to provide an emergency power
supply when you need it.
Enter
the back-up generators. Instead of relying on the utility
to provide you voltage to pressure those electrons in your
wiring, you can accomplish the same with a portable generator.
The least safe method of doing this is to have a gasoline-powered
generator set up out it the garage, with an extension cord
rigged up to the circuit breaker box. Some foolish people
continue to do this, but it is terribly risky and you should
never, never attempt this. Not only do you risk filling up
the garage with deadly carbon monoxide fumes, but you will
blow out the generator or worse when the power comes back
on. A big improvement in the past 15 years has been the emergency
transfer switch, which literally isolates certain circuits-say
to the refrigerator, a few lights, the sump pump, and the
TV-and allows you to power them separately during a blackout.
While you do have to throw the switch manually to make the
shift to the generator, and then turn it off again when the
power comes back, the safety this adds is enormous. The generator
itself might cost you $1,000 to produce 4,000 watts of electricity,
with another $200 for the installed transfer switch. And remember,
to avoid an accumulation of deadly fumes the generators have
to be positioned outside, rather than in the garage or basement.
Obvious as this may seem, it is truly startling how often
people ignore this.
Mr. Fix-It's
Law, however, dictates that when the power goes off you won't
be home to connect the generator and throw the transfer switch-meaning
your basement will flood without the sump pump and your freezer
will melt. As a remedy, some companies have developed automatic
transfer switches, which run with generators powered either
by gasoline or natural gas positioned permanently outside.
These are so sophisticated that they will literally sense
a drop of electricity within 5 seconds, and fire up the system
automatically. The cost is more-perhaps $5,000 for those same
4,000 watts-but the foolproof aspect may be priceless to some.
An alternative to this is to have a battery-powered backup
positioned in the basement. While even more expensive-at about
$7,000 for 4,000 watts-it has the advantage of being not just
silent but maintenance-free.
Battery-powered
generators have an additional advantage: They're silent and
run without any emissions, which can be essential for city
or apartment living. Conventional generators make a good deal
of noise-on par, perhaps, with a lawnmower. While that may
sound like a racket, believe me it will be music to your ears
as your neighbors' milk turns to cottage cheese in their refrigerator.
|
