JAMES A. TRYNOSKY PE, LEED AP FALCON ENGINEERING, ARCHITECTURE & ENERGY CONSULTANTS


In the midst of another long, cold winter, one thing many of us are aware of from past winters is the potenal for frequent and possibly longterm failure of our electrical distribuon infrastructure and the impact it has on our daily lives. Days or weeks without power, ranging from seemingly trivial issues like spoiled food in the refrigerator and parents struggling to keep their young children entertained, to more signicant issues such as medical treatment and heang issues, we are all in the same boat.


While the communies and locales aected may alternate, with some being frequently spared, others seem to be constantly subject to these outages. Tales of communies struggling to recover from Super Storm Sandy lled the newspapers and connue to do so to this day. The next batch of winter stormrelated outages are just around the corner. Despite living in a modern technological dream world, power losses and outages lasng for days or weeks seem to be more frequent and more severe. Some of us will temporarily relocate to friends and family that might be spared  but for many, this isn’t an opon. Some condominium communies seem parcularly vulnerable as the enre community will be aected simultaneously, oen with minimal or no common amenies protected by standby power sources.


The good news is that temporary or permanent standby generators have become a lot more accessible in recent years.


In order to migate potenal power interrupon problems, homeowners may wish to install permanent standby generators for domesc use. Oen mes, when we think of emergency power applicaons, we are thinking of large scale diesel generators capable of powering enre buildings, hospitals, or commercial spaces. There are also hydrogen fuel cell systems available, but these are costly soluons for specic applicaons.


The typical residence, small business, or community clubhouse contains any number of appliances or comfort items that require electricity to operate. Every customer of the ulity company is provided with an electric meter that feeds the building and monitors the consumpon of electricity for that parcular service connecon. Electric power is idened by voltage, amperage, phase and frequency. In the US, the frequency is 60 Hertz (in Europe it is 50 Hertz). Depending on the size of the home, business or mulfamily residenal structure, electric service may be single phase or three phase.


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Singlephase electric power refers to the distribuon of alternang current electric power where all of the voltages of the supply vary in unison. A threephase system is where the currents in each conductor reach their peak independently. Service can be 120 volts, 240/208 volts or 460 volts. Finally, depending on the building and number of appliances or equipment used, the main service is also provided to dierent size distribuon panels or switchgear.


Where required by code, generators are typically sized and congured to provide service to lifesafety and emergency service equipment only. Standby generators may be sized to provide addional service that may be deemed nonessenal by local authories but not necessarily by residents. These can include heang systems, domesc water pumps, and various common areas in large mulfamily structures where residents may be able to make use of charging staons, lights, or other comforts. Typically, residenal generators are sized to power only the essenals of the home or business, refrigerator, sump pumps, well pumps, etc. The type and size of generator required will vary based on these consideraons. With the reducon in cost and greater availability of these systems, more and more homeowners are opng for systems that power the enre residence.


There are many sizes of generators on the market: Generac, Honda, Kohler and other manufacturers make a number of dierent models that may range in size from 6 KW or less to 100 KW or larger. Proper generator selecon can be achieved by following procedures outlined in the Naonal Electrical Code, and contacng experienced design professionals and contractors. Typically, generators will be selected to deliver the same voltages as provided by the ulity company at your home.


A standby generator will be connected to the main electrical panel through an automac or manual transfer switch. Automac transfer switches will detect a loss of ulity power, send a signal to the generator to start and transfer loads from the ulity connecon to the generator without any acve parcipaon of the homeowner. Manual transfer switches may require the homeowner to start the generator unit themselves. When the unit has stabilized, power is transferred from the ulity to the standby generator, manually. Automac transfer switches will also return to ulity power and shut down the generator automacally, where manual operaon would require the homeowner to transfer and shut down the system


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