generatorinstall.com

Your commercial and industrial lighting/electrical specialist. We do retrofits, relamps, generator supply/install, pole lighting maintenance/installation, electrical maintenance, circuit installation, neon maintenance, sign install/maintenance, panel install/maintenance and much more. Monthly lighting maintenance packages available for property mgmt companies, retail chains, industrial chains, schools, restaurant chains, etc. Visit our website at BrothersLighting.com to get started today!

Moving into a home can involve a lot of do-it-yourself projects. One of these might be installing your own home generator. You never know when a serious storm will knock out power for days, or if someone driving will hit an electrical pole and shut off the power. It's a good plan to have a home generator on hand for these emergencies.

There are different types of generators to choose from. One is a smaller, portable generator. It runs quietly, however they give off carbon monoxide. These generators need to be outside, away from open windows, and out of the garage or basement. The common portable generator will run only about seven hours on one tank of fuel. This is fine if your outage only lasts a few hours. If you decide to go with a portable generator, be careful of "back feeding". This happens when the generator is connected improperly to the wiring. It produces a dangerous current that can electrocute you or others nearby. This "back feed" could also cause hot power lines during an outage. To avoid this, install a double-pole, double-throw transfer-switch gear. An experienced electrician should do this. For those long outages, however, you need an automatic standby type.

 

 

An automatic standby generator could provide power 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. It's an automatic generator, so it will turn on even if no one is home during a power outage. Depending on the brand of generator your purchase, the noise level varies. There are some that come with a very quiet system.

You need to do some preparation to install the generator. You need to remove about 15 sq.ft. of sod and then compact the soil. Add stone dust, rake it, and tamp it to get a firm exterior surface. For an example, we are using an 11,000 watt unit that weighs more than 500 pounds. The unit gets rolled into place, and then the rollers are removed.