BRIGGS & STRATTON ADVOCATES PREPAREDNESS AHEAD OF HURRICANE SEASON

MILWAUKEE, WI (May 17, 2016) – Briggs & Stratton Corporation^® (NYSE: BGG) is urging homeowners living in costal regions to plan ahead for hurricane season. This week is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s annual Hurricane Preparedness Week, and hurricane season officially begins June 1 and runs through Nov. 30.

“Being prepared going into hurricane season is the best way to stay safe and comfortable should a storm of any size result in a power outage,” said Dan Roche, director of marketing for Portable Power and Cleaning Systems at Briggs & Stratton. “Having backup power is one way homeowners can comfortably ride out the effects of that storm from the comforts of home until utility crews can restore electricity.”

Preparing for Hurricane Season and Power Outages

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, if families do nothing else to prepare before hurricane season begins, they should at least assemble an emergency preparedness kit and have a family communications plan.

There is more families can do to prepare before a storm hits. For example, a hurricane will likely leave neighborhoods and communities without power. Returning utility power to a neighborhood after a storm can take a long time as hurricane-force winds can damage trees and block roads, making power line repair a difficult task.

Backup Power Options
Two kinds of backup power options — portable generators and standby generator systems — prevent power interruption to a home and help return a sense of normalcy for a family. These two types of backup generators help in different ways.

For those needing an immediate solution to power select appliances during an outage, a portable generator is the perfect solution. Portable generators can power a homeowner’s power tools to help clear a property of storm-related debris. Depending on the generator's capacity, they can also power some key home appliances for comfort with the help of a transfer switch installed at the home.

Some portable generators available today are even coupled with step-by-step startup, shutdown and storage instructions, like the Briggs & Stratton Storm Responder, to maximize ease of use. Simple diagrams indicate the correct oil and fuel to use, which appliances can be plugged in and where the unit should be placed while in use.

While portable generators can provide users with flexibility and comfort, homeowners and renters should use portable generators appropriately at all times in order to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. As a member of the Portable Generator Manufacturers’ Association, Briggs & Stratton invites homeowners to visit www.TakeYourGeneratorOutside.com to learn more about portable generator safety.

Standby generators are permanently installed outside the home and automatically keep the power on when a home’s primary power source goes out utilizing an automatic transfer switch. Fueled by propane or natural gas, they allow homeowners to run appliances like air conditioners, heaters, refrigerators, sump pumps, clothes washers/dryers and lights. Because they require professional installation time, it’s best to consider adding a standby generator in the weeks leading up to the storm season.

Some standby generators, like Briggs & Stratton Fortress™, even provide whole-house power because of its power management technology, Symphony™ II Power Management. Symphony II lets homeowners prioritize what in their home they need powered by proactively monitoring and managing the home’s backup power needs, allowing for whole-house power with a more affordable generator. Symphony II also uses remote power generator modules that are installed directly to a home’s existing wiring, to reduce installation costs for families, too.

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Jeff Salem
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