Monday, September 14, 2009


Houston Natural Gas Powered Generators


When your electrical power goes out, you have two emergency power options: a portable generator or stationary generators. Most people we encounter originally tried using portable, gasoline powered generators.

They end up encountering a number of problems with these units. They can only power a portion of their home and a few key appliances, and operating the generator in the wrong place can prove extremely hazardous to human health because of carbon monoxide poising. Natural gas home generators have proven to be much more effective than gasoline powered equivalents, and far more practical for home use than the diesel generators used in commercial arenas.

When clients ask us about upgrading to diesel, we try to steer than back to natural gas emergency power generators for a number of reasons. The biggest of these is that few homes have the necessary room to operate such a piece of equipment. Diesel has a very long shelf life due to the additives that are in it, so it makes sense to store it in a warehouse environment. A warehouse has plenty of storage room for fuel and for the large fuel tank. Natural gas home generators are much more practical for the smaller spaces located behind garages or in mechanical areas. Gas is clean burning and is a stable source of energy. It is not subject to the same outages that afflict electrical service when trees fall or lightning strikes.

ILD residential electrical contractors provide both the natural gas generator itself and coordinate the turnkey installation of the unit. It is much better to let professionals choose the unit and to coordinate the various parties that will be involve in hooking it up. Determining the size of the unit is the most critical factor in providing safe, whole house power backup. Knowledge of the home service panel and wiring systems will be required to make an accurate assessment of the power needs of the entire house.

It is also necessary to have a conversation with the light company at this point about home power usage. The electric company has detailed records on every home and what its power usage curve is during normal times and at times of emergency. By combining this data from the survey of home demand and electrical subsystems, ILD residential electrical remodeling specialists can then determine exactly how much electricity or maximum amperage will be necessary to power the entire house in a worse-case scenario power outage.

Once this determination is made, ILD orders the appropriately sized unit and obtains from the manufacture information on how much natural gas the home electrical generator consumes per minute. We subcontract a licensed plumber to physically connect the unit to the gas line. The plumber will first check the pressure regulator and pipe work to ensure that the flow of gas meets the requirements of the generator plus those of the rest of the home. Any necessary adjustments will be made at this time.

Once everything is set, the unit is mounted in either a mechanical room or behind the garage and connected to the gas line. In the event that there is no practical or safe place to mount the natural gas home generator, we will hire a concrete company to pour a slab upon which we can install the unit.

If you are interesting in a "Turn Key" emergency standby power generator solution for your home, please call the residential electrical services specialists at Illuminations Lighting Design.

Contact our Master Electrician at Illuminations Lighting Design at 713-863-1133 to learn more about houston home construction, home lighting controls, surge protection, electrical panel upgrades or to schedule a complimentary in home consultation.

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Tuesday, June 30, 2009


Standby Residential Generator Installation


There are two types of residential generators: portable and standby (also known as stationary.) During Hurricane Ike last year, many Houstonians attempted to power their essential home systems using portable units bought in retail stores. Some of these homeowners ran into difficulty with gasoline shortages, the dangers of carbon monoxide, and the inability of smaller generators to handle more than a few home appliances.

Portable units sold in stores are typically only 5600W. This is only enough electricity to power certain appliances. They cannot power the entire home, and it is not a good idea to attempt to overload them. Gasoline also burns out more quickly than other fuel sources and produces carbon monoxide. However, if you already own a portable residential generator, ILD will still be happy to make sure it is set up correctly and that it has not been overloaded with too many appliances tied to an extension cord by installing
new home wiring specific for emergency power.

We recommend that you have a
home standby electrical generator installed in your home. If you invest in a commercial-grade unit, you can count on having enough power to effectively power your entire home in the event of a power failure. Fuel options are much more diverse with stationary units. Models can be installed that run on natural gas, propane, or diesel. Diesel burns much longer than gasoline and tends to be more readily available during storm season. Natural gas and propane can usually be found in even greater supplies in the event of a major tropical storm or hurricane. However, you should never attempt to install a residential standby generator yourself. Such a task requires a licensed electrical remodeling contractor due to the complexities of wiring and the nature of electricity itself.

We recommend that you contact Illuminations Lighting and Design and let us install a residential standby generator for you. We have a number of commercial grade models available, and we will install a model that is best suited to your individual residence. We determine this match by first examining your
electrical circuit panel and making sure that they do not have faulty wiring. We check all the major circuits that run to your major home systems to ensure that they are not overloaded. If we find a defect, we will either implement a provisional wiring scheme to route power to major home systems such as the AC, home automation system, and security system in the event of an emergency. It is important to do this first to avoid overloading your circuit panel in the event that power fails, and your residential standby generator goes into operation.
If necessary, we will also install dedicated circuits to essential home appliances such as your television and your computer. This way, you will be able to operate your communications and media devices for the duration of the crisis. With a commercial grade residential standby generator, we can deliver specific power loads to each system and appliance without the risk of overloading the panel or blowing a fuse.

This way, provided your home is secure enough to weather a storm like Alicia or Ike, you have can be assured of uninterrupted, safe power throughout the time of the emergency. Having the assurance that your home has an
advanced electrical system with a whole house surge protection in the time of a national emergency is equivalent in value to a home insurance policy. It is an indemnity of your family’s safety, peace of mind, and personal lifestyle.

We invite you to
contact us toll free 800-863-1184 to learn more about our Houston home construction or our lighting blog which is full of helpful Houston Texas lighting information.

We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting and
house lighting plans in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond.

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We are a full service lighting design build firm specializing in residential and commercial indoor lighting and outdoor landscape lighting installation, service and maintenance as well as home automation, home theaters and lighting control systems.


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