Some Ways to Help Stop a Home Disaster
May 20, 2013 Generators
Posted by
Generator World
To help prevent a really serious disaster from occurring to your home you must be ready. Every year, almost seven million householders file insurance claims to recoup deficits from home disasters. At the very least, home disasters bring about really serious inconveniences or make homes unlivable in the worst cases. Some items that may be damaged range from spoiled food and mold infestations inside fridges and freezers. Another service interruption source such as earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other storms, make local travel almost impossible, and can also cause other troubles such as polluted water supplies.
It is not achievable to stop every disaster, but it is possible to decrease the possibility of damage and enhance the safety of the household and the individuals living within it. Take preventative actions ahead of time that help lessen the probability of a home catastrophe and then follow these home disaster prevention recommendations to help keep your home safe and livable.
As acts of terrorism and other disasters such as acts of Mother Nature. Keeping our houses supplied with water, and livable, electrical power is key in our day to day lives. Everything that depends on electricity will shut down when power is lost and this can include a community, an entire city, or even across multiple states. Any prosperous disaster prevention plan should contain a standby or portable generator to provide power during an outage. A standby generator is permanently set up and needs no human intervention to run and keep running for days at a time. Portable generators can provide power where you will need it, when you need it.
Not all home floods are caused by overflowing rivers and streams. There are a lot of disasters waiting to take place in and around your home that you can simply prevent with advanced preparation.
- Before leaving your home for prolonged time periods, remember to turn off your water.
- Be positive that your washing machine is employing hoses that will not burst.
- Make sure your fixture connections are using braided steel hoses that include a flood prevention device.
- Make sure that if you are using a sump pump, that the circuit that it is running on is powered by the home backup generator and inspect and test the pump at least twice a year. Be sure that your rain gutter outlets are extended length and that they discharge water down and away from the house.
Mold growth’s most perfect environment is hot humid air. When the air in an area does not flow freely the issue becomes a whole lot worse. Today’s homes are sealed for energy effectiveness, but that prohibits air movement. Eradicating humidity from the air and stopping mold growth, air conditioners can assist with the problem. In the winter, freezing temperatures can bring about plumbing or flooding troubles when frozen pipes burst. Make sure that the appliances that control the environment of your home such as, furnaces, air conditioner, and dehumidifier are operating on the circuits that are being powered by your generator. Without any power a refrigerator can only keep raw food items cold for a day or so. A freezer might last two days, or three at the outside, without power. After that, food thaws and spoils easily. On the circuit that is powered by your generator, make sure you include your refrigerator and freezer to be sure of continuous operation.
The trees in and around your home should be trimmed so that no branches are touching or overhanging the house. Remove trees that are too close―their roots can invade sewer lines and weaken foundations. Your landscape grading on your property should move water away and downhill from your home and doesn’t stand in puddles or ponds. By keeping the siding and roof in good repair, you prevent serious troubles in high winds and heavy rains. Don’t shovel snow up against the house. Move it away so that if it melts all of a sudden, it does not overwhelm the sump pump or leak into the home. Perform normal maintenance on your standby or portable generator as needed by the manufacturer’s maintenance schedule so that it starts and runs when you need it to. Remember to maintain and rotate fuel supplies for portable generators to keep the supply fresh. Old, stale fuel can cause troubles and keep the generator from running efficiently, or prevent it from running at all.
For more info go to: www.BackupHomePower.com