Not If, But When: Disaster Preparation Starts with an Emergency Generator

Have you been procrastinating on buying an emergency generator or some other sort of backup generator? Fires rage out of control every year in many states across the country. Hurricane Alley braces for fresh onslaughts of tornadoes and hurricanes each year. It isn't hard to realize that virtually every city, county, and state is susceptible to earthquakes, flooding, extreme temperatures and other natural disasters. Wherever you live, an emergency generator or backup generator can keep your home powered when your life depends on it.

A study by CNN reported that survivors of natural disasters recommend a generator to provide electricity for the entire house in order to power all life-sustaining appliances and utilities, including food storage and preparation appliances, sump pumps. Even battery-powered devices, especially medical devices often require recharging to operate.

An Emergency Generator for Everyday Items

Here's a breakdown of some of the things you will have to live without during a power outage without a generator:

  • Air conditioner and furnace: During a prolonged outage, your home could be too hot or too cold to live in without a generator
  • Kitchen appliances: Cooking and preventing food from spoiling will keep you and your family from going hungry
  • TV and radio: Your best source in an outage to keep up with emergency broadcast news and instructions
  • Hot water heater: Having hot water for showers and washing dishes helps prevent hygiene problems
  • Washer and dryer: Clean clothes and bedding in an emergency help contribute to a sanitary environment

Generators come in different sizes. The correct generator size is determined by your home’s square footage and your power needs in an emergency. The more items on backup circuits, the bigger and more costly the generator.

The question probably isn't whether or not you need a backup generator, the question is which emergency generator is right for you? How do you know what size do you need? Carrier has provided a handy, interactive tool to help you decide which generator is the best fit for you.

Regardless of the emergency generator that you decide to go with, remember: Emergencies won’t wait for us to pencil them into our schedules. Which makes prevention and planning crucial for weathering natural disasters and power outages.

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