The idea of keeping a portable generator on hand for backup power is an easy decision to make for many people, especially those who live in rural or more remote areas where an interruption to basic power supplies could easily last for several days as crews race to restore energy supplies across wide territories.
When it comes to choosing the right generator for your home, though, several factors need to be considered – including the fact that many of today’s home HVAC systems and other appliances are equipped with sensitive electronic controls that could be vulnerable to the inherent fluctuations and so-called dirty power that many portable generators supply. This could be an even more serious problem with electronic devices that appear to work well on generator power for a while – even though they are being steadily damaged over time.
The causes of dirty electricity can come from a variety of sources. The clean energy that’s meant to power our homes at a safe frequency of 60Hz has become infected with micro-surges of radio frequency radiation (which are all but invisible, by the way) and other contaminants.
The dirty power problem has gotten worse in recent years partly because people are increasingly using energy-efficient electronic and lighting devices such as entertainment centers and dimmer switches. These items, while useful and energy-saving, also induce elevated levels of electromagnetic contaminants that bum a ride on a building’s electrical system and have even been known to affect nearby structures.
When shopping for a portable home generator, it’s wise to keep in mind that you will want a unit that is capable of producing clean power. Our line of Clean Power Generators is a good place to start your shopping.
Other technologies, such as Inverter Generators and Automatic Voltage Regulators, might also succeed in providing you with cleaner and more reliable generator power for your home’s sensitive electronic systems.
But why leave such an important buying decision to chance? Contact one of our specialists to see which portable generator option might be best for your needs.
Why do commercial roofing contractors enjoy powering their operations with Winco generators? We asked our top flat top roofing contractor clients and found out just why they continue coming back to Absolute Generators for their Winco WL12000HE and WL18000VE BIG DOG industrial portable generators. Of the variety of responses, here are the top reasons for their brand loyalty and model specificity.
Power Outlet Continuity Within Their Fleets Of Generators And Plugs: Commercial contractors power several high powered production oriented screw guns on a given roofing job with their Winco generators. Night work can also demand light plants. The WL12000HE and WL18000VE BIG DOGS both have NEMA 14-60R 60 amp receptacles, NEMA L6-30R 30 AMP receptacles, and 3 duplex NEMA 5-20R outlets. The WL18000VE adds another NEMA L5-20R 20 amp receptacle to its control panel. Their present cords, adapters, and central power distribution centers, and ultimately, screw guns and light plants, are counting on power distribution through predictable receptacles and outlets. Changing the generators receptacle package is not an option without the net result forcing contractors to purchase a whole new fleet of reconfigured power cords, adapters, and power distribution boxes. So, the high output contractor minded receptacle packages that attracted these production minded commercial roofing contractors in the first place, continues to be especially critical when many competing brands do not offer such contractor grade outlet and control panel configurations.
Power Capacity: As previously described, flat top roofing crews have large portable power requirements. The WL12000HE boasts a continuous wattage of 10,800 while its big brother, the WL18000VE tops out at 15000 continuous watts, being easily one of the largest portable gas powered generators available. With a small army of screw guns and night work light plants, the contractors have enjoyed fully supporting their superintendant and foremen’s power requirements. One of the first ingredients in project performance is having the right tools for the job. Starting with these, Winco certainly provides the power you will need.
Honda and Briggs & Stratton Vanguard Engines: A large aspect of a generator purchase is the engine the contractors own within the generator itself. The contractors we spoke to favor the Honda and Briggs & Stratton engines. They were receptive to other engine brands such as Subaru, Kubota, Isuzu, John Deere, and Yanmar, but certainly approved Winco’s partnership with these heavy weights of engine technology. Both offer three year warranties, strong parts support, and a mechanic population that has become well acquainted with servicing and maintaining these well known engine brand names.
“Durable, Dependability, Reliability, Performance”: Many generator manufacturers suggest they have a contractor grade portable generator. Contractors know that likely is not the case for many. They know this well by experience and typically through the school hard knocks. Let’s look at this from a cost-per-crew-hour perspective. A crew of 10 guys sitting for a couple hours because of generator failure or less than adequate power is worth about $1000. Let’s run this out over a day, week, or month. Take that same crew and cut production by 25% (generous) over a day’s time because of production loss and you’ll see about a $1500 loss. Over a 6 day work week, this may look more like a $9000 loss. In a month’s time, your inferior generators may have cost you every ounce of profit you had in the job to begin with at a whopping $36000. The cost of a generator pales in comparison to unfortunate down time a crew might experience because of inferior generator quality or insufficient power production and has lead many of our commercial roofing contractors to maintain their loyalty to Winco because they can rely on their generators to perform. That is why our contractors responded to us with adjectives describing Winco as durable, reliable, and dependable. It doesn’t hurt that Winco backs their generators by a 2 year commercial warranty as well.
Hard Wired Screw Guns Necessary, Battery Powered Screw Guns Are Not Feasible: Our contractors rely on hard wired screw guns as opposed to a battery powered unit. We would guess this is likely the case for a large percentage of the commercial roofing contractor population due to cost and durability with battery powered screw guns. Though screw guns are an important tool in the arsenal of a roofing contractor, they are tremendously abused. Investing more in this variable of the operation seemed unfeasible to our contractors.
Clean Power From A Generator End Second To None: Sensitive equipment need not fear the Winco WL12000HE and WL18000VE. Contractors specifically noted the clean power Winco is known for and that they require to protect their fleet of electric power tools and light plants. Each unit offers less than 5% total harmonic distortion, 100% copper windings, robust internal wiring, heavy duty capacitors and diodes, and a host of other Winco specific generator end nuances that make Winco their preferred generator manufacturer.
Checkout the Winco WL12000HE and Winco WL18000VE and see what the professionals are raving about.
