QOTD

mary811 · June 2011

For personal reasons...

Do you own a generator?

If so, anything I should be looking for in one?

If not, do you want one or plan on buying one?

kzoomaggie · June 2011

Do you own a generator? Nope

If so, anything I should be looking for in one? NA

If not, do you want one or plan on buying one? DH has been looking at them, but I don't expect that we will be buying one anytime soon. But eventually we might buy one just to run some of the more important things in the house...

nic1062 · June 2011

Do you own a generator? Nope

If so, anything I should be looking for in one?

If not, do you want one or plan on buying one? We want one but no plans as of yet. Maybe in the next year.

sammi11586 · June 2011

I live in an apartment so I don't have one. My parents and their neighbor went in on one. They go enough to power the sump pump, both refrigerators and a few other items. Just enough to do the essentials for both houses.

mary811 · June 2011

Do you own a generator? Nope

If not, do you want one or plan on buying one? I guess we should now, since we have LO. I told DH to go buy one today if the power isn't back on by this afternoon.

Tarah716 · June 2011

Nope - we don't plan on buying one either. It's rare we lose power anymore since they re-did the power lines and if we are out it's not for very long. I just don't see us investing in one.

moeoscar · June 2011

Tarah716:
Nope - we don't plan on buying one either. It's rare we lose power anymore since they re-did the power lines and if we are out it's not for very long. I just don't see us investing in one.

This is my feeling too. In the eight years we've lived in our home we've only lost power a handful of times and it's never more than a few hours. The only exception being the big blackout.

Winkette1 · June 2011

Do you own a generator? No, we are in an apartment right now

If so, anything I should be looking for in one?

If not, do you want one or plan on buying one? When we get a house I want one for sure

ajr_18f · June 2011

For personal reasons...

Do you own a generator? we don't own it, it's actually FIL's but it's been at our house ever since we "borrowed" it 2 years ago. It was a life saver when we had a big storm. it prevented our basement from backing up because we could run the sump pump. If FIL ever takes it back, we will be buying one. Much cheaper then a flooded basement & freezer of lost food.

If so, anything I should be looking for in one? I have no idea what to look for.

If not, do you want one or plan on buying one? n/a

spence2007 · June 2011

Do you own a generator? Yes, DH had one from his racing days where he would use a generator to power his trailer at the track. We've lived in our house for over 3 years and have never lost power.

If so, anything I should be looking for in one? I have no idea

If not, do you want one or plan on buying one? N/A

lilnephie · June 2011

Yes we own a generator.

You should be looking at the size and the brand of motor. You need to understand what you plan to run while using the generator, the wattage, and then go from there. You also have to know if you need to have 110 and 220 hook ups. Not all generators have both. The generator we own is a Briggs and Stratton motor, it does the job and is durable, however I would prefer a Honda motor. Honda generators are known for their durability and strength. They are also less noisy, better fuel economy but more expensive. You will be looking at $750-$1200 for a decent generator to run most of the lights and appliances in your house. That is about 7000 watts. Ours cost $800 2 years ago at lowes. We bought ours on impulse during a bad storm a couple years ago and it was the last generator in stock at any store in the area. If we would have had time to drive north or the opportunity to look around, we would have bought the Honda.

Another thing you should look into is updating your circuit box to plug your generator into vs. running extension cords. You will need a 240V plug for this.

There are also natural gas or propane built in generators. This is the most ideal situation and you would be able to run your whole house like nothing happened as they turn on automatically during power loss like a battery back up.?however you are looking at $3000-$5000.

DH suggested looking on craigslist. People are selling theirs that were used once from the last outage. A word of caution though if buying used, one needs to treat the motor on a generator similar to an ATV or a lawn mower. It CAN NOT sit for long periods of time without being started. The fuel needs to be treated during the winter months or when sitting. If that generator sat for over 6 months without being started or treated?walk away.

jennic22 · June 2011

mary811:

For personal reasons...

Do you own a generator? No

If so, anything I should be looking for in one?

If not, do you want one or plan on buying one? We don't right now. If we lived in a place that had well water, we'd be more inclined to do it. In the last five years at my house we have only had the power go out about 4 times, and until a few weeks ago, it never lasted more than 4 hours. I have invested in a few nicer candles though.

mary811 · June 2011

lilnephie:

Yes we own a generator.

You should be looking at the size and the brand of motor. You need to understand what you plan to run while using the generator, the wattage, and then go from there. You also have to know if you need to have 110 and 220 hook ups. Not all generators have both. The generator we own is a Briggs and Stratton motor, it does the job and is durable, however I would prefer a Honda motor. Honda generators are known for their durability and strength. They are also less noisy, better fuel economy but more expensive. You will be looking at $750-$1200 for a decent generator to run most of the lights and appliances in your house. That is about 7000 watts. Ours cost $800 2 years ago at lowes. We bought ours on impulse during a bad storm a couple years ago and it was the last generator in stock at any store in the area. If we would have had time to drive north or the opportunity to look around, we would have bought the Honda.

Another thing you should look into is updating your circuit box to plug your generator into vs. running extension cords. You will need a 240V plug for this.

There are also natural gas or propane built in generators. This is the most ideal situation and you would be able to run your whole house like nothing happened as they turn on automatically during power loss like a battery back up.?however you are looking at $3000-$5000.

DH suggested looking on craigslist. People are selling theirs that were used once from the last outage. A word of caution though if buying used, one needs to treat the motor on a generator similar to an ATV or a lawn mower. It CAN NOT sit for long periods of time without being started. The fuel needs to be treated during the winter months or when sitting. If that generator sat for over 6 months without being started or treated?walk away.

Thanks for your response!! We recently had a new and larger circuit box installed and some electrical work done to the house, knowing we would eventually hardwire the generator to the house. We just thought we had some more time.

I can't take the chance of our basement flooding or the freezers being off for too long. DTE says it should be back on by 9:30pm, so if that's the case we will be fine, but we need to get a generator asap.

lilnephie · June 2011

mary811:
Thanks for your response!! We recently had a new and larger circuit box installed and some electrical work done to the house, knowing we would eventually hardwire the generator to the house. We just thought we had some more time.
I can't take the chance of our basement flooding or the freezers being off for too long. DTE says it should be back on by 9:30pm, so if that's the case we will be fine, but we need to get a generator asap.

You're welcome. We don't have well water, or anything so the need for one isn't super huge. We have had three major outages at our house in waterford in the past 5 years that were longer than 48 hours. The one we bought the generator for lasted 6 days. I felt the food in my freezers and fridge was far too valuable to loose. We also hooked up our 90yr old neighbor so she could cook and not lose her food. We don't hook up the entire house to save on fuel, but we run what we need.

For anyone who doesn't have a generator or doesn't want to invest in one, I do suggest that you invest in battery back-up surchargers for your computers and televisions. They keep those items running for at least 5-10 minutes in an outage to allow you to shut them down properly. They cost $80-$100 per unit. We have one for our television and entertainment systems in the basement as well as our PC.

Mrs.NGM · June 2011

Do you own a generator? NoIf so, anything I should be looking for in one? N/AIf not, do you want one or plan on buying one? Doubtful, fortunately we have not lost power in the past year that we have owned our house. If it happens and happens consistently, we will definitely look into purchasing one.

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