Phone: 530-642-2476 • Serving El Dorado County since 1980! • CA Lic No 423462 · NV Lic No 0052399
Don't wait until there's another power outage...
Q. I visited the generator sites and found I can buy on-line. Doesn't that save me money?
A. When you call us for a generator, we will discuss your needs and suggest the best solutions (brand and output). Yes, you can run a "choose your model" quiz on a generator company's site, but maybe you don't really know what power you actually depend on? You don't want to buy a generator and then find out you bought too much or too little power! We can help you target the right product.
When the delivery company drops the box in your driveway, what do you do next? The generator needs to be set on an appropriate cement pad, away from your residence. The generator needs to be properly connected to your house with a double-throw transfer switch. We do these things, then help you understand how things work.
Q. Why do we offer four brands? Isn't one of them "best"?
A. Because a variety of situations will affect every job, we offer three of the leading names and then help you choose which will be best for your circumstances They are all propane-powered for your family's safety.
Kohler generators can reliably handle higher surge loads than other generators in their class.
Brigg& Stratton calculators : find out how much generator you need for your purposes.
Generac: the most environmentally friendly generator on the market
Q. Why isn't a little gasoline-powered generator just fine?
A. They may be useful for your RV camping but they are a questionable choice for storm emergencies. One major problem is obvious: gasoline! It's dangerous enough when the generator is cold; it's potentially a fire waiting to happen when the small gas tank runs out and it's time to refill. Hot metal + spilled gas = big trouble.
Health officials see a spike in carbon monoxide poisoning incidents after major storms. The danger comes when electricity is knocked out and people look for other power sources for cooking, lighting, and cooling or heating their homes. The big contributor is that people buy gasoline-powered generators and they use them in ways that they think are safe, but they're not.
Stored gasoline is yet another problem. The generator needs to be run outdoors (not in a garage, certainly not in a house), and a can of gasoline needs to be stored in a shed away from the house, not in an attached garage.
For safety, a small generator should be hooked to the house with a special electrical connection. If the connection to the home wiring is not done correctly, then the generator can feed into the power system and can electrocute linemen who are working to restore power.
Here is another reason for having Carnahan Electric install a switch: if you plug your gasoline generator directly into a wall outlet, the house wiring is no longer protected by a circuit breaker! The wiring could become overloaded, overheat, and start a fire.
Q. We don't have propane. Now what?
A. We can have a tank brought to your property. Problem solved.
Q. How do I start the generator when I need it?
A. You can start them manually but the ideal solution is to add an automatic transfer switch and a battery. When the grid power fails, the battery keeps the power to the house from being interrupted while the switch turns on the generator (from 10 to 25 seconds). If you work at home and your computer blinks out, even for 10 seconds, you lose your work; if you have several appliances with time displays, you get to reset all of those! You want a battery. The quiet hum of the generator is a comforting sound as your home continues to function without any need for you to even step out into the bad weather or darkness.
Related: There's another side to this. As convenient as it is to have a generator start up automatically, it can be a bit of a problem if you go away on a vacation. You must turn off the automatic switch, or make an arrangement with a neighbor or a friend to check a generator that starts up in a power outage! If the generator runs for days, it burns up your propane. As unlikely as it is, if that outage lasts for more than 30 hours, your generator could end up needing service. They do need to be maintained after every 30 hours of run-time to check the oil and water in the battery.
Another possible problem is with the owner manually shutting down a running generator. It is imperative that if the generator is running, you shut off the generator breaker before turning off the engine. Failure to do so causes abnormal stress on the control circuits. This will destroy circuit boards, voltage regulators, etc.
CA Lic No 423462 • NV Lic No 0052399 • Phone: 530-642-2476 • Serving El Dorado County since 1980!