Who hasn’t experienced it yet? You are in the middle of cooking and suddenly all power went off. Your kids scream since the TV has turned off and they don’t want to miss the rest of their favorite show… Power outages can be annoying!
Power outages can have several reasons. Often, they are caused by severe weather or natural calamities such as summer storms and winter blizzards. Sometimes it is caused by an overloading of the electrical grid and sometimes there seems to be no reason at all.
Depending on what has caused the power outage, it can be fixed very quickly or take more time. Easy fixes take up only some minutes whereas outages caused by storms of category 5 can even take a week for power to be restored. Therefore, one should better be prepared for the worst case.
How to be prepared for a power outage
Firstly, you want to find out whether the power outage is caused by something within your house or not. Check if some broken lightbulb or appliance might have caused the outage. Go to your switch panel and check if any of the switches may be turned off. It will show you if it is really a power outage or a problem with your own breaker. If one of the switches is turned off, turn it back on and the problem will be solved.
If you cannot locate the problem inside your house, check if your neighbors still have power. It might be because you are not connected to the same pole-mounted power transformer. In this case, call your utility company and let them know. If they also do not have power, it is likely that the power outage has been caused by a severe problem in the overall electricity supply of your region. In this case, the power might be gone for a longer time. Your region will publish information online, so keep yourself informed. To avoid longer times without power you might want to think about getting a standby generator for your house.
Why get a standby generator
A standby generator is not a necessity but sometimes it comes times when you would wish you had one. It can be very useful when a power outage goes on for longer so that you will be able to still load your phone and keep yourself warm with an electrical heater. It is essential to have the correct one for your house and that it has been set up correctly. Therefore, in case you decide to get one, make sure to get a licensed electrician to set it up! Another alternative is to get a portable generator that will not be connected to your house but instead appliances you want to use get directly connected to it.
Prepare for the power to come back
It is important to switch off all appliances when there is a power outage. This has mainly two reasons. First, when the power comes back there might be a surge of energy which damages sensitive appliances such as TVs and laptops. Secondly, there might still be appliances turned on that you will forget about such as a hot iron or the oven. This can lead to severe safety hazards, so make sure to check everything is turned off.
When to Call an Electrician
In case you checked all the advice but you were not able to locate the source of the power outage in your house it becomes time to call an electrician. Chose one located close to you that has quick availability and just call. Often they will ask you for some details already on the phone and might even be able to give you some quick and free advice on solving your issue. Otherwise, they will be happy to come out to you and help you get back in the warmth!
Click here to get to the contact details of Varg Electric, based in Mississauga.
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