Joyce and her husband are both retired teachers who live on Sassafras Mountain, the highest point in the state of South Carolina. Thanks to the 2,800-foot elevation, they’re often hit by severe snowstorms, strong winds and torrential rain that knock the power out.
While many folks rely on propane fueled standby generators during outages, the single road up and down the mountain is steep, so fuel trucks won’t attempt a delivery if there’s ice on the road or bad weather on the horizon.
“The peace and solitude up here are just beyond anything you can imagine but you do need to be self-sufficient and prepared for when the power goes out because we’re so rural and hard to get to,” says Joyce. “We always have at least three weeks of food on hand, just in case, because you never know what might happen.”
Joyce
The couple lived without a generator for nine years and Joyce says it was tough. Their house is located at the end of the line so, when power went down, they were usually the last to be connected. That meant no heat, no water and no stove.
In 2009, they had a Briggs & Stratton generator installed and things got immensely better.
“Three years ago, we had close to zero temperatures and we lost power for a week,” says Joyce. “Thanks to our Briggs & Stratton generator, we were warm, we had water and we didn’t lose any food in our freezers. Since our generator is a newer model, it is much quieter than many of the older ones. Folks were running out of propane and the generator noise was non-stop, but we were warm and safe.”
Joyce
Joyce lives on the same mountain as Clayton Preble, the owner of GenSpring Power. One day when she was at his house doing crafts with his wife, she asked him about the solar panels on his roof. Preble explained how his panels are connected to 10 Briggs & Stratton PHITM batteries.
“Based on my conversation with Clayton, my husband and I decided to invest in batteries,” says Joyce. “I like that the batteries are quiet, help us save on propane, which keeps on getting more expensive, and the fact that the generator recharges the batteries because we don’t get enough sun for solar panels.”
Joyce
The couple now has four PHITM batteries from Briggs & Stratton in their basement, providing 15.2 kWh of power. Their Briggs & Stratton home standby generator sits nearby, outside the basement door.
“We’ve lost power several times since the batteries have been installed but I don’t even notice because they’re silent and kick in automatically,” says Joyce. “It’s a long-term investment but well worth it. When making a purchase I always think ‘choose well and it will last’ and I think we did.”
Joyce
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