Power Outage.... Minor disruption or Major Pain

Residential Standby Generator.  This size is also used for small commercial buildings

Hospitals, police dispatch, fire departments and other life safety related community services commonly protect their building power with standby generators.   Military bases and telecom facilities take things even more seriously with uninterrupted power in the form of battery banks coupled with sizable generators.  Extreme critical services cannot wait the mere seconds it takes for the standby unit it kick in.  

What about the rest of us?   Is a power outage a big deal or a minor interruption?   For some it provides a rare opportunity to 'unplug'.  But, for many if not most of us, it's an unwelcome and even costly interruption.    

Things as simple as filling your car with gas, getting cash from an ATM or even walking through the automatic door opener at your favorite supermarket depend on electricity. Offices & businesses large and small rely on electrical power for everything from lights and computers to the elevator you ride up to the floor where you work in your office building.  If you are a business owner even a couple of hours without power can be costly.  Uncompensated employee time, lost sales, spoiled product....  The list goes on and the longer grid power is down the worse it gets.  

At home the electrical power grid supplies much needed power for lights, appliances, electronics and more.  Refrigerated food spoilage starts in 2 - 4 hours if certain foods being stored above 40 degrees Fahrenheit.  If you have special medical needs that require the use of durable medical equipment a power outage for you can be a health crisis waiting to happen.  CPAP machines, infant apnea monitors and oxygen concentrators are used in homes across America.  Most require electrical power or a reliable DC power source. 

Many homes and businesses are moving toward having backup power available in the event of a power outage.   Backup power systems vary based on the needs of the business or homeowner.   Portable generators can be plugged into permanently installed transfer switches.  For a more permanent solution, there are several manufactures of automatic standby generators. Automatic standby generators sense the loss of grid power and automatically start themselves.   PTO generators are yet another option.   This is commonly seen in agricultural applications where the power take off on a tractor is used to power a generator.  

Having backup power in the event of a power outage is not just for emergency services.   Homes, businesses and farms also need to protect themselves in the event the power grid goes down.  Three Phase can help you choose a generator sized to meet your needs.