PSA: A homeowner in Tacoma asked me why his new system didn't have a battery backup

I was finishing up a job yesterday and the guy pointed at the panel and said, 'What happens if the power goes out for a day?' He'd just read a news story about a big storm. I told him the basic system only has a 4-hour battery, but we could add a bigger one. It made me think we should bring up extended backup as a standard option, not just an extra. How many of you talk about long-term power loss with every customer?

4 comments

4 Comments

sarah_davis1mo ago

Forget the four hour battery, what's your actual sales pitch for a full day of backup? Do you lead with storm safety or just treat it like a fancy extra they probably won't buy?

margaretc4220h ago

I show them last year's ice storm outage map and ask where their kids would sleep if their street was red. That usually gets the real talk started.

miles_schmidt1mo ago

Feel for that homeowner. Sarah_davis has a point about leading with storm safety, not just tech specs. We should all make the long backup talk a normal part of the job.

caseya741mo ago

Hold on, the basic system doesn't have any battery at all. That's the whole point of the backup add-on. You're selling them a generator that kicks in, not a tiny battery. If they only got the generator without extra fuel, then yeah, it runs out. But the starter package is just the generator. The battery backup is a totally separate, much more expensive thing. That guy probably just got the generator and nobody told him it needs gas.