James is a retired college professor and mechanical engineer who lives year-round in the Poconos in an area near Lake Wallenpaupack. It’s a small, tranquil mountain community that’s heavily wooded but not heavily populated. While the trees contribute to its beauty, they’re often the culprit of power outages. When a strong windstorm comes through, a downed tree can knock out the power for a few hours or a few days.

 

“The first time there was an outage I wasn’t ready for it. After that, I used a portable generator for two years but eventually I got tired of dealing with it and wanted something that was easier and automatic.”

James

 

James worked with Ben Rinker, the owner of Rinker Inc., who recommended Briggs & Stratton. Just a few months later, James had a Briggs & Stratton® PowerProtect™ 12KW standby generator installed to back up his 880-square-foot ranch home.

 

“It’s been wonderful. Every Monday morning it does its weekly exercise so I know it’s ready to automatically kick on whenever the grid goes down. There have been times when the standby generator went on and I was the only one in my area who had power.”

James

 

Last summer, James decided to look into a battery backup system, putting his background in mechanical engineering to work. His research led him to Briggs & Stratton batteries. 


Happy with what he found, he worked with Ben and had a stack of three Briggs & Stratton® SimpliPHI® 6.6 batteries installed. The batteries provide nearly 20 kWh of battery backup power, which is enough to keep his home going for 24 hours before the generator takes over.

 

“What I love about the batteries is the fact that I don’t even know when the grid is down because the batteries kick in instantaneously. Everything is quiet and that’s what I like about them. I live alone with my dog and cats and am turning 75 soon so I like the security of knowing I’ll always have power.”

James
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