As you will soon find out there are plenty of advertisements both online, and in magazines and newspapers offering wind generators for sale. However, before you rush out and invest in this new alternative energy supply for your home there are a number of things that need to be taken into consideration beforehand. Below we take a look at just what some of these are.
Factor 1 – Quality
You should invest in a good quality wind generator if you don?t want to waste any time or money having it repaired due to the blades getting jammed or other common malfunctions. Therefore, look for those for sale that offer a 5 year warranty or more. This is also a good indicator that the manufacturers have confidence in what they are producing because they know they would not make a profit using sub standard equipment backed with a long warranty.
Factor 2 – Find out How Much Energy Is Needed For Powering Your Home on an Annual Basis
The best way to do this is through contacting your utility company and requesting that they provide you with a summary of your annual home kilowatt usage. Using this figure you are then able to determine the size of wind generator to install to help provide enough energy to power your home each year.
As soon as you know the amount of energy required to sufficiently power equipment and appliances in your home you can decide on the kind of generator to supply it. You should be looking closely at systems that use a direct DC supply which allows energy to be stored for later use. This stored DC energy can then be converted into an AC supply in order to power appliances in your home. It’s recommended that the generator comes with a separate inverter for converting the DC energy to AC because the built-in inverters tend to become damaged easily. Replacing these built-in inverters could get expensive.
Factor 3 – What Planning Permissions Do You Need?
For those who are considering installing a free standing wind generator then planning permission may need to be given before it can be erected. Therefore, before you do anything else you must contact the local planning authority to find out exactly what their planning requirements are for such systems. Yet if you are only installing a small roof top model then you may find that you don’t actually need to obtain such permission before installing it. Certainly this is a good idea as not only are you saving time but also money.
Factor 4 – Cost
This is one of the most important things you need to take into consideration when thinking of buying one of the wind generators for sale. Yes, the price that the system is being offered at may look like a great deal, but you still need to factor in the cost of actually setting it up. Keep in mind, you may need to prepare the land on which the generator is to stand, which may require a concrete foundation to be laid beforehand. Then you need to take into consideration the other costs of wiring it up to your home. This includes ensuring that you are using the correct inverters to prevent your appliances from being damaged when using the energy generated by these systems.
