Page 13 - OPE JULY 2020

MARKETPLACE
Generators & Water Blasters
Generators power on, water blasters come under pressure
Generator suppliers are fielding many more enquiries around inverters and have more options to satisfy commercial demands. But the Covid-19 lockdown and Auckland’s water restrictions have kept water blasters in check over autumn. Andy Kerr reports.
ECONOMISTS MIGHT BE
downbeat on business and
consumer spending going forward, but suppliers of temporary power products are reporting robust to buoyant domestic and commercial sales.
Many enjoyed a good run through lockdown because of their essential service status and most report being very happy with June sales, despite the cancellation of Fieldays.
Despite strong demand, generators aren’t a “stack them high, watch them fly” category.
Fully assessing customer needs for standby generation can be rather involved, Alex King, generator Category Manager at BE Pressure, explains: “Selecting the correct generator for a customer is done by calculating all appliances that will be running at any time, including calculating estimated start-up load of certain high- demand products.
“Once that is calculated, the estimation of runtime for the generator dictates accessories like long-range fuel tanks. This is done for both domestic and commercial applications; you can never just assume the generator will be big enough to run your house or workshop.”
While Brian Macken, GM of Power Equipment, concedes that his company
is not, and does not seek to become, a major player in the generator business, but maintains “a small range of very good units, mainly for commercial applications, and one-off projects”, all powered by Yanmar.
Brian says sales of his smaller models are usually driven by price but, on important projects, quality and support are critical: “In assessing what various customers will need for full standby generation, we ask lots of questions,” he says, “and often get customers to complete an application form.
“It’s very important that we know
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