Do you have a generator

[scbelleatheart]

and how big is it? After 2 weeks ago with no electric, air and water for 2 days I want to get one. I just threw out a ton of food from 2 fridges and a freezer because it sat for too long without refegeration. A small fortune in groceries (won't miss all the deer meat).
An employee got one for $800 but it is small portable one that runs on gas. If the power is off in the whole area the gas pumps won't work. I've looked at several and the prices are all over the place. They all run on propane.
8,000 watts $2000
13,000 watts $3000
20,000 watts $4000
You never think about this in the summer. You think winter power outages.
If anyone is knows a little about this I can tell you how big the house is and what I need to run. I want to buy one and have it installed before DH returns in August.
TIA.

 

[artesian]

and how big is it? After 2 weeks ago with no electric, air and water for 2 days I want to get one. I just threw out a ton of food from 2 fridges and a freezer because it sat for too long without refegeration. A small fortune in groceries (won't miss all the deer meat).
An employee got one for $800 but it is small portable one that runs on gas. If the power is off in the whole area the gas pumps won't work. I've looked at several and the prices are all over the place. They all run on propane.
8,000 watts $2000
13,000 watts $3000
20,000 watts $4000
You never think about this in the summer. You think winter power outages.
If anyone is knows a little about this I can tell you how big the house is and what I need to run. I want to buy one and have it installed before DH returns in August.
TIA.

I have a 9000 starting 7000 running generator. Power was knocked out in my town last year for almost a week after the hurricane. That amount will run both my fridges, sump pumps and lighting on my first floor. You should consult an electrician to see how you should size it. For me to back up my whole house i was looking at 25000 watts. So basic rule of thumb is the higher running wattage the more devices you can back up

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Yes we got one for winter emergencies. We had an ice storm that knocked out our power a few years back. I am not sure of the specs on it, it can run 2 space heaters and like a lamp and a 13 inch tv. Sadly I have no idea how to operate the thing myself.

 

[billdob62]

Home Depot has generators that will run your whole house, and these run off natural gas. These are installed outside your home and run off your buried gas line that your hot water heater, stove, etc. runs off. These are hooked up directly to your breaker panel and will switch on automatically when the power goes out.

 

[PatMcDuck]

We have one, because we lost power a couple of times for 4-5 days, and it was a disaster. Why? SUMP PUMP. If you are dependent on a sump pump to keep your basement dry, losing power for even 3-4 hours can be big trouble. (sometimes the ground is dry, and then it is not an issue)

One time we lost it at midnight on a Sat night. All we could do is watch the water rise as we scrambled to try and get things out of the basement or up on plastic "stilts". We called and knew it would be 4 days minimum until it returned, stupid fallen trees on the lines again.

We use ours for the sump pump, refrigerator, and to charge up cell phones, iPad, etc. We lose our internet when power is off, apparently, even if we plug router into the generator power strip. But we also may plug in a lamp or 2.

My neighbor has the one that kicks on automatically and works with natural gas. I think it cost $5000. Our generator runs on regular gasoline. I think it was about $1200-1400?

Most of my neighbors have one now, some families "share" one with another family, using exterior extension cords. Again, the priority here is the sump pumps. The whole area was humming last time they were all running, it was weird.

 

[mrodgers]

Home Depot has generators that will run your whole house, and these run off natural gas. These are installed outside your home and run off your buried gas line that your hot water heater, stove, etc. runs off. These are hooked up directly to your breaker panel and will switch on automatically when the power goes out.

How exactly does it run off the same line as my electric water heater, stove, etc when the power is out?



Oh, and I have a water heater. If the water is already hot, why do others need a hot water heaters?


Sorry, couldn't help it....

 

[mymeme]

I wish ours was a whole house but am glad we have one at all! It is a 5000. We usually hook the refrigerator up for several hours and then swap it with the freezer. We also run a tv and a lamp or 2. It works for us but we have not had to do this for over a few days at a time. It runs on gas and if there is storms in the forecast we fill up several gas containers. We got it at Sam's several years ago.
meme

 

[momxx5]

We have had one for many years. I'll have to check with DH about the size/wattage.

I can run most of the house, and actually has such a large capacity that we much run a pretty full electrical load to keep it working correctly.

DH also hooked up a additional panal that the generator plugs into and then goes into the breaker box to allow many outlets, fridge, lights, water heater, etc. to work. It really cuts down on running extension cords throughout the whole house.

The only thing that bothered me at first was when we needed to use it (and have several times over the 10yrs we've had it) was that we would have power and a lights on, fans, etc while the neighbors were all in the dark. Now the whole neighborhood has one each and its not a problem.

Oh, and when the first storm.....straight line winds that knocked out power for week, knocked down trees, homes damaged, etc. We also lost food in fridge. At the time the insurance adjuster (sp?) wrote off a lot of frozen food, etc to cover the cost of the generator. So while we did lose some food we made out pretty good on cutting the expense of generator.

 

[pigletto]

We have one, because we lost power a couple of times for 4-5 days, and it was a disaster. Why? SUMP PUMP. If you are dependent on a sump pump to keep your basement dry, losing power for even 3-4 hours can be big trouble. (sometimes the ground is dry, and then it is not an issue)

One time we lost it at midnight on a Sat night. All we could do is watch the water rise as we scrambled to try and get things out of the basement or up on plastic "stilts". We called and knew it would be 4 days minimum until it returned, stupid fallen trees on the lines again.

We use ours for the sump pump, refrigerator, and to charge up cell phones, iPad, etc. We lose our internet when power is off, apparently, even if we plug router into the generator power strip. But we also may plug in a lamp or 2.

My neighbor has the one that kicks on automatically and works with natural gas. I think it cost $5000. Our generator runs on regular gasoline. I think it was about $1200-1400?

Most of my neighbors have one now, some families "share" one with another family, using exterior extension cords. Again, the priority here is the sump pumps. The whole area was humming last time they were all running, it was weird.

Hmmmm. Now you have me thinking. I never really saw the need until you mentioned the sump pump. Ours is in our cold cellar under the front steps of the house. When it rains, it runs constantly. Our whole basement is finished and any kind of flooding would ruin carpets and floors and be terrible.
It's not often that we run into a power outage but we do get very high winds here near the lake so maybe it's something we should look into.
I'd hate to realize how important it was AFTER the damage was done.

ETA) My parents live in a very rural area and have one that I assume runs on natural gas. It's huge. The second the power goes out you hear a quiet "click" and then the whole house is running again. In fact, several times they haven't even realized the power was out because they have no neighbours or street lights and the switchover is so smooth. They were without power for days and days during several ice storms and winter storms over the years so the cost was worth it to them when they renovated. I would be looking for something just to keep the sump pump going and maybe the fridge/freezer.

 

[Ed J]

How exactly does it run off the same line as my electric water heater, stove, etc when the power is out?



Oh, and I have a water heater. If the water is already hot, why do others need a hot water heaters?


Sorry, couldn't help it....

Because they wrote gas line

OP

We have a 7000 watt natural gas unit. It's a perminate unit not a roller. It has a transfer switch to run the frig, heat, living room, bedroom and basement circuits. No messing with cords. We have city water and a well, our AC works off the well so we were looking at another 2 grand or more for AC so we opted to just store a window unit in the basement and if we "need" it we can all least have 1 bedroom cool for sleeping.

The 7000 watt unit is a good compromise on size and cost. 2 grand for the unit and another 2000 to 2500 for the install.

 

[beaucoup]

No.
Thought about it each time everyone else keeps losing power, but we have been here for 19 years and have only lost power once for 4 hours at the longest. We live on the main road & power gets restored quickly.

We have an all electric house, including electric heat & pellet stove that requires electricity. Powers goes out we have nothing. But it hasn't been a problem at all & we are in MA in the areas that have been badly hit.

Thought about buying one last year while DH was deployed, but then said the cost & the fact that its going to sit there untouched for years making it difficult to start wasn't worth it. We've been the house the offers friends to come over to warm up, sleep, shower, eat, charge up phones, etc because we always have power.

Lots of our friends have them though - especially after the past year here in MA. Grew up with a generator that was used a lot as we lived way out of town.

IF we got one, we would only need one large enough to run the fridge, and the fan/auger on the pellet stove, and a few incidental lights. Can always unplug fridge or something long enough to turn on the microwave for instance, or charge up some batteries. Don't need everything plugged in & running all at the same time. Would have hot water until it ran out, but I don't see up being out for days. 2000 - 3000 watts would be enough for us. I would use gasoline model. Light weight for me to get it outside (wheels). Quiet. And use extension cord into the kitchen to run fridge & pellet stove. No installation costs.

 

[Junebugwv]

Never thought of getting a generator because we have gas which allows cooking and hot water as well as some heat when the power goes out. We recently endured 5-plus days without power and I never knew how miserable it could be without power in the heat. A cool drink and a fan would have been great.

 

[MinnieForMe]

Yes, we have one and it's a life saver! I don't know the size but I believe it's a Honda. It was much more expensive than one that you would purchase at Home Depot because it runs quietly. You can't hear it and in our neighborhood when we lose electricity it sounds like a war zone with all the neighbor's generators going.

Ours can't be that big as it only runs our well, sump pump, heat, freezer, refrigerator and one outlet.

 

[luvsvacations]

We had one installed when we built our house. I didnt want it but my husband did. So glad I lost that one!! It goes on automatically when the power goes out for a minute then shuts off when the power comes on. In the summer in does not run the AC but we have hot water, fans and everything else. It is really nice to go away and not worry about the power if there is a storm. It is one of the best things we did.

 

[starwood]

We got one after hurricane Irene last year. We haven't needed it yet (thank goodness). We got it mainly for the sump pump issue. After many years of having the power go out while the pump was running and flooding the basement we also got a battery back-up for the sump pump. It runs on a marine battery. I figure this will keep the pump going if we aren't home when the power goes out or if it goes out in the middle of the night (like it did once) until we can get the generator running to run the pump.

It seems like more and more when the power goes out it isn't out for just a few hours - it is out for days. We never had this problem when I was growing up so I'm not sure if it is because the population has outgrown the electric grid.

 

[mommyof2princesses]

We really need one too. We lost power 2 weeks ago too due to a freak storm and had no power for 4 days. Lost almost all our food. We have a well, so no water either for all those days. I don't know about a whole house one though because we don't have natural gas lines where we are...in the middle of nowhere. We could run one off of propane I quess. I would just like it for run the well pump and fridge and maybe a fan or 2!

 

[mrodgers]

I don't see why one couldn't just have a connection wired up to plug a regular portable generator right into the electrical box with the proper switch so it didn't backfeed and all.

I added stuff up in our house and as long as we didn't do laundry, run the dishwasher, and cook all at the same time, we wouldn't come close to the capacity of an $800 portable.

It's something that's on my list after the soon-to-be last car payment. We lost power a few years ago for 5 days. I have 300 lb. of beef in my freezer that my in-laws raise.

If you folks flood that much when it rains and power goes out, check where your downspouts go to. I found out mine run right into the sump pump. Why you would do that is beyond me. I haven't gotten around to fixing that yet with other projects that go on, but if the power goes out when it rains, I pull the downspout so it runs out in the yard instead of flooding my house. I've been there waking up in the middle of the night to find 6 inches of water down in the basement. My 2 times though was from the sump burning up in the middle of the night, not from power outages. Always thought it was water running down the outside steps where there is a drain going to the sump. Found out last time after pumping the basement with a portable pump to see the water gushing in by the gallons per minute from the front downspout.

 

[starwood]

Our downspouts originally went into a dry well. We have since pulled them out and have them running no where near the foundation but the water just comes up through the floor (high water table).

 

[ekatiel]

We bought one after Hurricane Ike a few years ago. It's just a gas powered small generator. We evacuated but had to come back just two days after the storm b/c DH works in the medical field and the hospital wanted him back. We were without power for over a week, so it was a life-saver. It ran our fridge and deep freezer and the tv and laptop. Gas was hard to find but we brought back several cans with us after we evacuated and there were several places in the city that got power back pretty earlier, so we went and stood in gas lines with everyone else to get gas. Next time, we're evacuating with 2 cars and the kids and I are staying out of town until the power comes back on!!--Katie

 

[scbelleatheart]

We really need one too. We lost power 2 weeks ago too due to a freak storm and had no power for 4 days. Lost almost all our food. We have a well, so no water either for all those days. I don't know about a whole house one though because we don't have natural gas lines where we are...in the middle of nowhere. We could run one off of propane I quess. I would just like it for run the well pump and fridge and maybe a fan or 2!

Sorry to bump this but we went generator shopping today. I think we are going with the 1600 KW. When you live in the middle of nowhere and have no water or electric, it is a long haul.
Never thought about losing water. Cannot flush a toilet, take a shower, wash dishes? The well pump does it all. We have propane to run heat but we never turn it on. The house is well insulated.
Any way I am preparing for winter because it is supposed to be nasty. But I still love to live in the Midwest.