Minneapolis, Minnesota (NAPSI) - Portable generators are readily available from many retailers and home centers, they’re familiar to users and thus easy to operate, and they store easily in a shed or garage. However, automatic standby generators offer many advantages over portables during a power outage. Here are the top six:

• They can back up your entire home, which can be difficult or impossible with a portable generator—even a large one. Life goes on as normal, as if utility power were never interrupted.

• Automatic operation. When the power goes out, an automatic standby generator senses the outage, starts up and automatically begins delivering power to your home within seconds. A portable generator has to be taken out of storage, fueled and started up manually.

• They don’t require refueling. An automatic standby generator runs on your home’s natural gas or LP fuel supply. Both can keep your generator running for days or even weeks. A portable generator runs on gasoline and, depending on the size of the tank and amount of power you’re using, you’ll have to refuel it every seven to 10 hours.

• Quieter operation. With their sound-deadening enclosures, automatic standby generators are much quieter than portable generators.

• They don’t require extension cords. Unless you have a manual transfer switch, you’ll have to run extension cords from your generator to all your appliances. Automatic standby generators deliver power directly to your home’s electrical system. Your lights and appliances—including hardwired items like a furnace or well pump—operate as they would under utility power.

• They are safer because they are permanently installed and must comply with rigorous national and local building and electrical codes.

To learn more about the long-term advantages of home standby power, visit the Generac website at www.generac.com.