What Is a Commercial Generator?
Closing your store because you have no power means no customers. An electrical outage can lead to severe financial losses for any business or office. If your business relies on computers or other kind of technology, downtime means lost productivity. If you operate a research business, it can result in the loss of thousands or millions of dollars in lost specimens or experiments. An outage at a medical clinic can have serious consequences for patients. Yet many businesses make the mistake of thinking that to save money, they can get away with using a residential generator in a commercial setting.
Don’t make this mistake! It pays to work with an expert to help you find the right size commercial generator for your business. Commercial standby generators kick in when an outage begins, providing your operation with the power needed to continue operations. Natural gas, propane or diesel provide fuel for most commercial generators. Commercial generators require regular maintenance. The better it’s maintained, the longer the generator will remain in operation. Experts recommend performing regular maintenance every three months.
What Are the Main Differences Between a Home and Commercial Generator?
The most apparent difference between residential and commercial generators is size. Home generators that sit outside like an HVAC unit are larger than portable generators. (You might see a portable generator powering a BBQ at a tailgating event, in a food truck or used by a merchant at a farmers market on the weekend.)
Commercial generators are much larger, constructed with sturdier equipment and typically reside in a fixed location outside a facility on a concrete slab. Perhaps surprisingly, they’re quieter than many residential generators since they’re constructed with materials that reduce vibrations and noise. While you’d no doubt be glad to have power during an outage, if you had to work in an office or deal with patients in a medical clinic with a loud generator in the background, it wouldn’t be a pleasant experience.
How Much Do Power Outages Cost in Ontario?
On average, businesses face more than CA$12 billion in related costs when it comes to critical outages. While the numbers for business power outages are readily available, there are also significant costs related to residential outages. Numerous households face millions in outage-related costs, including spoiled food and emergency supplies like firewood and flashlights. In many cases, families must find alternative nightly accommodations and pay for mold removal, especially if there’s flooding.
For instance, a recent power outage in the Ottawa region during the long weekend in May 2022 lasted several days. It resulted in millions of dollars of losses in both residential and business settings, and the city of Ottawa spent almost $2 million to help residents who had no food.