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Types of Home Generators

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There are two basic types of generators for your home.

• Portable – Portable generators provide power to places that do not have power such as, camping sites or other remote areas. They can also be used to run power in your home but only for a short period of time. A portable generator has a built-in fuel tank and standard outlets that allow you to plug in various electrical appliances or tools through the use of an extension cord. Generally, portable generators run off of gasoline, which can be a disadvantage because you cannot store gasoline for long periods of time. Portable generators run in size from 1kW to 15kW. They are normally much less expensive than a standby system because of the fact that they run for such a short period of time. Portable generators should never be run from inside your home because the fumes can result in serious threats to your health or even cause death.

• Standby Systems – Standby generators while being much more expensive than portable units are designed to run much longer. They offer many features that portable units do not have and have a much higher capacity of power. They are permanently installed outside your home much like your air conditioning unit. They come with a protective cover that protects the unit from weather conditions and also serves to baffle some of the noise. These systems are hard-wired to your homes permanent fuel supply and can run on either propane or natural gas. This gives the standby system the potential to run for an extended amount of time. Standby generators run in size from an 8.5kW to several hundred kW. Most systems come with a removable front panel so that they can be easily serviced.

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