Blog posts of '2022' 'June'

In another very recent article, we wrote that now is the perfect time to get yourself a standby generator for your home because of the serious threats of more and more power outages in the not-too-distant future.

However, while we mentioned climate change and the loss of Russian gas causing issues with power generation, and power outages as a result of more frequent and worse storms, there is another thing that is about to happen any day now, and that is rail strikes caused as a result of decisions taken largely by the RMT Union.

This union has announced rail strikes on June 21^st, 23^rd, and 25^th across the whole of Britain with some 50,000 employees going on strike. (This is despite the fact that the average rail worker has an income of £46,000 compared with £37,000 for teachers and £32,000 for nursing staff). The result will be that because of varying shifts, there will be virtually no trains for a week, and in turn that will affect delivery to power stations, leading to further disruption and more power outages. Not only that, but the union has stated that if the employers do not accede to their wishes, this will go on all summer!

Just another very good reason why you need to consider buying a standby generator for your home or business right away!

Look No Further

If you are looking for new generators for sale in the UK, then look no further than Blades Power Generation. We have a huge range of different new generators for sale in the UK, from very small ones to those that can power a large business when the electricity goes down. Look at it this way: things regarding electric power are only going to get worse, not just in the short term but for the long term.

When you install a standby generator, you need to be aware of certain legal requirements. Chief of these is that you must install a transfer switch.

This can be an automatic transfer switch or a manual one. When you have a manual transfer switch, as the name suggests, you have to start your generator by hand when the power goes down and then switch over from the mains once it is up and running.

On the other hand, an automatic transfer switch does the job for you. It detects when the power has gone down, fires up your generator, and then when it is running at full power, automatically switches from mains to generator. The result is that you will only be without power for a matter of seconds before the lights come on again.

If you don’t want to suffer from power outages in your home or business, the time to buy a standby generator is now. There is no doubt that climate change seems to be causing more storms, and in turn that can lead to power lines going down and not being repaired quickly. Recent storms in the Northwest and Scotland left some people without power for two weeks!

Furthermore, with the war in Ukraine, and countries trying to avoid buying Russian gas, that can only make the situation worse. No, we do not use a lot of Russian gas directly here in the UK. Depending upon whose figures you believe, it is either 4% or 8% of our total energy imports. However, other countries in Europe are turning away from Russian gas, and that means that the electricity we buy from those countries will be less available. So, the war will still affect us in that way.

Generators are available in a range of different sizes, and the one that you need will depend upon a few factors. You need an electrician to calculate the amount of power that you require. Then you can buy the appropriate size of generator. Obviously, the more power that you need, the bigger generator that you will require, and therefore the more expensive it will be. 

Used Generators

However, you don’t have to buy a new generator. You can find used generators for sale in the UK. This is just the same as buying a second-hand car. You only have to watch the TV ads to see that there are several companies supplying second-hand cars up and down the country, and of course they cost a lot less than a new one.

Here at Blades Power Generation, we always have used generators for sale in the UK. Many businesses who need a generator will purchase a new one from us and then simply trade in their old one. So, we always have a range of different sized used generators from which you can choose.

You will also need a changeover switch, and whether you choose a manual changeover switch or an automatic one is a matter of personal choice. A manual changeover switch will cost less than an automatic one, but it does have the disadvantage that you have to be on the premises when the power goes down. With an automatic changeover switch, the generator will kick in immediately the power goes down, and you will only be without it for a matter of seconds.