Emergency Power Systems and Backup Generators for Businesses
You may recall the Southwest Blackout of 2011. If so, you probably know how power loss can hurt your business. Losing power can create all kinds of problems:
- Customer-service debacles.
- Expensive interruptions in operations and sales.
- Losing access to network servers filled with critical data.
- Failure of temperature-control systems, which can affect food, medicine, or biological samples.
- For hospitals and medical practices, malfunctions in life-sustaining equipment.
These days, a business is only as reliable as its power is reliable. You can only be sure of getting reliable power if you invest in an emergency power system capable of seeing you through a crisis – before a crisis hits
How emergency power systems work
A commercial emergency power system contains several components.
The first is the generator itself. The generator produces power with the help of natural gas or diesel fuel.
The second is an automatic transfer switch, or ATS. This device monitors the power flowing from your local utility company. If it senses a loss of power it will automatically turn on the generator. When it senses power is restored, it will shut off the generator and allow the utility to power the building once more.
Those two components work in tandem to create a basic emergency power system. But a good emergency power system is more than a generator and an ATS.
A good system will include a couple of other components. For example, many buildings should have installed emergency egress lighting. These are similar to the lights you’ll find in the aisle of an airplane or a movie theater. They maintain safe paths out of the building lit so people don’t get confused and remain in dangerous areas if and when the power goes out.
A good system also includes a series of uninterruptible power supplies (UTS). These are battery-operated back-up power supply sources that can run computers, telecom equipment, and emergency fire systems (to name a few functions).
Both these systems serve as a back-up to the generator, in the event the generator runs out of gas or runs into other problems at the worst possible moment.
Investing in emergency power for your business
Without counting labor expenses, the average commercial generator starts at just $6000. That may sound like a lot at first, but it’s peanuts when you consider the short-term and possibly long-term costs of lost power.
But you don’t just pick any old generator. Installing a backup generator requires us to evaluate the power load of the entire building. Your generator must match the needs of your building. We must also hook it up to your gas utility, because you won’t add gas to your business’s generator the way you might add it to a small home generator.
Premo Electric makes sure your emergency power systems are up to the challenge
Once everything is installed you should consider getting a system check and light maintenance on your generator at least once a year. That ensures everything will run as it should if when you really need it.
Of course, if something goes wrong with your generator we can get it to you fast.
We’ve installed dozens of these systems for businesses across the San Diego area. Contact Premo Electric to discuss your backup and emergency power needs.
