There is nothing worse than being left out in the dark, literally! Power outages can be dangerous and inconvenient and with today's modern appliances and technology, dependency on electricity is even more critical than it was years ago. Without a generator, power outages can cause pipes to freeze, food spoilage, heat loss, cause mold to grow, and plastic to crack. This is especially applicable if you live in the southern United States, where tropical storms or hurricanes are frequent. Gas generators and diesel generators are advanced in design, and housing and permanent household generators are much smaller, smarter, and quieter than the older models. If you live in an area where storms are common, power outages with their grim regularity are certainly worth the price of a standby power system. Power grids are shared in such states as New England, the Carolinas and Florida. Therefore, if you live in North Carolina, a power outage in Florida would affect you, as well.

With portable generators, such as the diesel generator or gas generator, these devices can be loud, run on gasoline or diesel fuel and are hard to move. They can replace part of your household load if an electrical outage occurs, but you're only able to run a limited number of appliances at any one time. There are some remarkable manufacturers on the market that produce excellent portable generators such as the Honda generator or Generac generator. A permanent backup system can run off your home's propane or natural gas supply and can be directly wired into the household circuit panel. In the event of an outage, they will provide a seamless switch from the utility service to backup power. You can purchase residential standby generators systems such as Kohler that will monitor your home's utility power for interruption. If a power outage occurs, a switch automatically starts the generator and transfers the electrical load bringing your power back again. Such companies as Generac generators market fully- integrated systems that feature switching devices and distribution panels. The generator is usually in addition to these systems. There is usually only a 7 to 10 second outage with most built-in generating systems when a power outage occurs.