Backup Power for Small Businesses: Always Be Prepared

DATE: Apr, 4   COMMENTS: 0   AUTHOR: Allan Azarola

Getting amidst a power outage just before an important deadline can bring ruin to your business, which is why you always need to have a contingency plan. Ideally, you would work ahead of time and always have some room for downtime, nonetheless, this is still a massive resource loss for your company.

Moreover, sometimes the deadlines are imposed by the client, which means that you don’t have that much maneuvering space. Therefore, you need to find other ways to avoid this problem. One way is to check the condition of your electrical switchboards and circuits. Why? Electrical accidents with outdated boards can happen in an instant. This is something you can do yourself if you are confident with this task, or you can read more on websites such as https://aardvark-electric.com/areas-we-serve/piedmont-heights/ to look into hiring a professional for the job. This way, you can be confident that there is no risk of an accident occurring as a result of an outdated board. It just takes one overloaded circuit to start a dangerous electrical fire, and not to mention how unproductive an older system becomes as it degrades. Therefore, having a professional from reputed firms like Calibre Connect (who are, by the way, known to offer services of a skilled electrical switchboard electrician in Sydney) inspect the circuits and upgrade them in the switchboard can allow your office building to distribute power more effectively. It can also ensure that your devices receive the electricity they need to run at ideal levels without overburdening the circuits.

Another way is to prepare yourself for this unfortunate occurrence and get a backup power system ready. Here are several things you need to know about this method.

1. Which outages can you expect?

There are several reasons why power outages take place, most of which you can’t come to anticipate or predict. For instance, you can never prepare for the scenario where a hailstorm, a branch falling due to the storm, or a lightning strike might cause the outage. The same goes for a traffic accident in which a vehicle hits the utility pole. What you can expect, however, is the idea that during the blazing heats, there might be a power outage due to the overuse of the utility grid. If there are some works on the grid (by the utility company) such a thing should be announced in advance, so that you can organize properly. On the other hand, the cause of power outages could be some issues within the electrical system. Make sure to hire an electrical testing company to measure the quality and stability of the electrical power supplied to your building. They can help in identifying issues like voltage fluctuations, inadequate power supply caused by dysfunctional grounding systems and other causes of power surges that may be causing power cuts.

2. How much power do you really need?

Next, once you have to turn towards the use of a backup power system, you need to be ready to enter the power-saving mode. In general, this system is much more expensive than your regular source of power, which is why it only needs to be used as a temporary solution. Either way, you need to make an estimate of how much power you need to make it through this rough spot and invest in a system that can match these needs. If required, contact an experienced professional service provider (like Vertechs Electrical) for an industrial electrician, for a thorough inspection of the electrical system and to inquire about the capacity of your primary source.

3. Picking the right system

The next thing you should do is look for the list of the best-selling UPS systems and do some research on each of them. As always, you shouldn’t focus on the features exclusively. Instead, try to look at some user reviews and see how these systems are rated by those who actually used them. This will give you a much more accurate picture of the system, thus making it into a more dependable choice. Once again, before you make this choice, you need to be familiar with the needs of your business (something we’ve already discussed).

4. Making your next move

Once your company is back on its feet, you need to start diagnosing the problem and check what it will take to get your company back online. Your first step would be to contact a dependable emergency electrician. Seeing as how this is a time-delicate issue, you need to narrow down your search to local electricians, seeing as how they can usually appear on premises in a matter of minutes (up to half-an-hour). So, for instance, the head of an NSW-based company needs to have the number of a reliable Sydney electrician on a speed-dial.

5. Portable vs. standby generators

The very last thing you need to consider is the type of generator that your business is going to use. The most important choice is one of portable vs. standby generators. The reason why more entrepreneurs go with standby generators is due to the fact that they automatically kick in, meaning that the loss of work is minimal. However, if you plan to relocate in the nearest future, going for a portable generator might be the smartest choice.

Conclusion

Overall, the best solution for your business is quite situational. This means that apart from knowing a thing or two about these systems, you also need to know the needs of your business inside and out. Still, this is an issue too important for you to ignore. Other than this, it’s also wise to have a data backup system installed, just in case.

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