Startup Time and Failures
CONCERN
What If The Generator Doesn’t Start?
This is the number one concern we hear most. This fear was realized during Super Storm Sandy when over 60% of diesel backup generators failed to start. The primary cause of failed starts is poor battery maintenance. Backup generators are like your car, and unless maintained, tested, and serviced, these batteries will fail to start the generator. It is best to contract with a generator service company to perform routine services – don’t wait until you need the generator to service it. Battery issues are almost non-existent with Backup Power-as-a-Service because the service provider uses the generator periodically to make money, and any service or maintenance issues are identified early and resolved before an outage. A well-maintained generator will have an uptime reliability in excess of 98.5%.
CONCERN
What If the Power Quality Solution Doesn’t Work?
If our proposed solution fails to resolve your power quality issue, we will continue to work until it is resolved. Any additional labor and engineering required for such efforts is borne by Exergy.
CONCERN
Will The Generator Start Immediately So There Is No Downtime?
Generators do not start immediately; the Fast-Start generators take about 10 seconds to start before they take on load – you will go dark for roughly 10 seconds. Non-Fast Start generators take about 30 seconds to start and warm up before taking on load. Note: this is only relevant during grid outage, not when Exergy uses the generator to sell services to grid – when Exergy uses the generator for grid sales, we start the generator early and ramps it up fully before synchronizing the generator to the grid and transferring the load. Your operations will not be affected when the generator is used in this manner.