This is a guest blog post by FLASH partner Kohler Power Systems.

Power outages are a particular risk during winter especially if you live in a climate that is consistently very cold and plagued with severe winter weather. Ice storms, blizzards and heavy snow often result in power outages that can last for several days. When it is cold outside and it is too dangerous to travel away from your home, it becomes increasingly important to make sure that you have heat inside.

An automatic standby generator can keep key systems running to protect your home and your family.

Standby generators provide many benefits, such as:

•  Providing heat to keep your family warm and comfortable

•  Keeping pipes from freezing and causing water damage by powering the heat throughout your home

•  Maintaining communications systems to stay informed of updates on the weather, friends and family and travel/safety conditions

•  Ensuring that sump pumps are protecting the basement from flooding/water damage in case large amounts of snow begin to melt

•  Preserving your family’s food and fresh water by powering the refrigerator and well pump

•  Supporting well pumps for running water to flush the toilet

•  Automatically starting and stopping in response to outages to protect your home, even if you are not there

•  In some models, allowing you to manage your home generator from your computer and receive status updates on your mobile phone.

A permanently installed standby generator, which remains outside the home and runs on an existing fuel source (natural gas or liquid propane [LP]), ensures that your family and home will weather prolonged power outages throughout the winter season by keeping the heat, lights and other equipment powered when utility electricity is lost. Standby generators are capable of generating enough wattage to power your entire home, and they automatically restore power within seconds of an outage.

Work with a licensed contractor to size, purchase and install your standby generator system, and notify your local power company that you have a back-up system in place. To learn more, visit KohlerSmartPower.com or facebook.com/kohlergenerators.

You canwin a Kohler automatic standby generator as a part of the Great Winter Weather Party! Visit today for your chance to win.