Any computer user that has had a power outage recognizes the need to have a good UPS system. As a matter of fact I not only have UPS (uninterruptible power supplies) on my computers, but also on my other sensitive electronic gear such as my DVRs, telephone system, router, cable modem, etc. My favorite brand is APC. UPS’s are great, however they are designed to provide you with enough power to save your current work and properly shut your computer down. They are not designed for prolonged outages. At least not the ones for most homes and small offices. So that means you get anywhere from 8 minutes to 110 minutes of battery power on average depending on the size of your UPS and the load you have on it. This is great! However, it’s not good enough. I work from home. So when the power goes out for more than a couple of hours it’s more than a minor inconvenience for me. It’s also a pain not really knowing how long the power is going to be off. Is it going to be off for an hour or 3 days? I was home during the major black out of 2003 that effected most of the northeast. My power was out for 3.5 days. Of course that meant throwing away all the food that was in the fridge and freezer and being hot and miserable with no AC. Not to mention no internet and no way to do my job. Granted this kind of outage doesn’t happen often, however since that blackout we have had 2-3 blackouts per year on average. Storms are out of our control, so there is no real way that I can predict or control a storm related outage. However, two weeks ago it was a sunny Wednesday afternoon, not a cloud in the sky and bam - NO POWER! I called the electric company and put in a report with their automated system. Power did come back on 30 minutes later, but that was the last straw!

I had been eyeing a “whole house generator” for the past few years. The way these units work is that they are powered by natural gas and since I can’t ever remember a time that my gas went out (I live in the midwest, I know it’s different on the west coast with earthquakes), I figured this kind of back up system would be great. Once the unit is professionally installed if the power goes out at the meter, it automatically transfers power to the generator and it kicks in within about 10 seconds. I had one of these beasts installed this week and it’s a thing of beauty, well not literally, it’s just a metal box. However, I now have peace of mind. After it was installed of course I wanted a test and demonstration. So they simulated a power outage so that I could see the generator in action with everything that I would normally have on during the day running with no problem. Actually there is a slight issue and that is believe it or not to do with the APC UPS’s. Since generator power is prone to current fluctuations, the APC units “clicks” indicating that power is not constant or normal. The installer said that this was normal and that he had seen it before. He said that I should be able to turn down the sensitivity on the APC units, however I have not yet found a way to do so on the models that I have. Even If I can’t find it, I will live with the clicking during an outage as everything stayed on during the test. I can’t completely get rid of the UPS systems because there is a 10 second gap between a power outage and the generator firing up.

The power may never go again and I would still be happy. Peace of mind was worth the price of admission.