Thinking About a Generator? Standby or Portable?

If your northwest Arkansas home has suffered from power cuts or outages in the past, the thought of having an emergency power supply has probably crossed your mind. Unfortunately, severe weather can result in blackouts for several days at a time, resulting in home damage, financial loss, greatly reduced home comfort, and in some cases health hazards. This is where an emergency generator can come to the rescue, though you’ll still need to decide whether to get a portable model or a permanent standby generator.

Is a Home Generator a Worthwhile Investment?

If you’re at the stage of seriously considering getting a generator, you’ll want to assess risk against cost. You need to ask yourself a few tough questions, such as:

• What would happen without refrigeration working for an extended time?
• If the heating fails during the extremes of winter or summer, what are the health and safety risks for you and your family?

You’ll need to weigh the potential risk and damages against the likelihood of a worst-case scenario happening in your Arkansas home.

What’s the Best Type of Generator for My Home?

So you’ve done your assessment and decided to get a generator. Next, consider the best type for your needs.

Portable Generators

Pros and Cons include:

• Cheaper price than standby models
• No or low installation cost
• Short running time, meaning they need to regularly refueled
• Can overheat if used for long periods of time
• Usually used to power a few appliances and lights rather than the whole house

Standby Generators

Pros and Cons include:

• Higher power output levels than portable models
• Directly connected to home’s power grid, so the shift to the generator in a blackout is quick and seamless
• Permanently connected to your home’s natural gas, oil or propane supply so there’s no need for refueling
• Durable and built for longer running times
• Available in a variety of sizes and capacities, all the way up to whole-house models
• Higher purchase price
• Higher installation cost

Comparison complete and decision made, now you just need to find the right model to match with your budget.

For friendly no-obligation advice about home generators and other matters related to home comfort, please contact us at Paschal Heat, Air & Geothermal. For 45 years, we’ve been helping northwest Arkansas residents with expert HVAC advice and service.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Springdale, Arkansas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about generators and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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