• Phone(847) 588-2533
  • Address200 Applebee St Suite 207, Barrington, IL 60010
  • Open Hours24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year
  • Phone(847) 588-2533
  • Address200 Applebee St Suite 207, Barrington, IL 60010
  • Open Hours24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year

A Generator Needs Fuel—What’s the Best One to Use?

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We strongly recommend that homeowners in Chicagoland invest in a whole-house generator before the winter arrives. There is no better way to defend your comfort over the season than with a back-up for electricity in your home. You can contact our generator professionals to find the ideal whole-house generator to meet your needs.

One of the choices you’ll confront when arranging for a generator installation is what type of fuel the system runs off. Obviously, it can’t run from electrical power coming from the grid! There are different energy options available, each with advantages and disadvantages:

Natural Gas

This is the fuel type that we often recommend. Its major advantage is that it comes from a municipal source, piped right to the generator. You don’t have to worry about running out of fuel! Natural gas is also less expensive than other fuel sources and burns cleanly. Its only actual disadvantage is that a house must have a connection to a gas main to use it.

Propane

This is the most popular choice for homes that don’t have a gas main connection. Propane is also clean burning, and it’s competitively priced. You do have to take delivery, but it is easily stored and has a long shelf life: you can stock up ahead of time without worrying about your fuel supply going stale.

Diesel

Diesel presents the lower danger of combustion (it’s not very flammable) which is a benefit for people who have safety concerns. It’s also easy to obtain since many industries use it. But diesel gas can go stale in 18 months while stored, it makes for a noisy generator, and it takes a great deal of the fuel to power a generator through a multi-day outage.

Gasoline

This is the easiest fuel source to obtain. But it’s highly flammable, goes stale fast (less than 12 months), shouldn’t be stored in large amounts, and is pricier than the other fuels. We don’t generally recommend gasoline generators except as small portable units.

Let our generator experts at Brilliant Home Services help you select the right generator for your home in Park Ridge, IL.