I live 30 miles east of Seattle in an area that is frequently without power. Up until this year the outages were less than 48 hours but this year we have had repeated outages, one of which lasted 6 days after a stronger than usual windstorm. I had to scramble to find somewhere else to be. I lost several days of work, all the food in my refridgerator and freezer. At what point does it make sense to just install a standby generator?
2007-01-16 12:48:25 · 6 answers · asked by Julie C 3 in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
They are really worth it. If you have the money put in an automatic type. If you have natural gas or propane use that for fuel it will save having to fuss with gasoline or diesel fuel.
I live in the city but still have a 5000 watt gasoline one I can hook up to the furnace, a couple of lights and the freezer. We had power out for about 14 hours during a ice storm and it worked great. but I had to keep refuelling it every 5 hours or so.
2007-01-16 16:20:35 · answer #1 · answered by ec1177 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I decided to have a portable generator with manual transfer panel while my new house was being built. It uses a deep well for water, and without electricity we can't even flush a toilet! Within three months of moving in there was a 16 hour outage following a snow storm. Then a hurricane knocked power out for a few days. Otherwise power has been relatively reliable. Even so, I'd never want to be without the generator again. It is very good peace of mind and money well spent. I don't have to worry about my family being cold or not being able to eat. If you have to ask the question, it is time to do something about backup power.
Read about my generator installation, safety tips, and so on on my web page.
http://members.rennlist.org/warren/generator.html
2007-01-16 12:59:17 · answer #2 · answered by Warren914 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You definitely should install a generator. I think power outages have gotten worse and they happen more often. Also the piece of mind you get by having the generator is worth quite a bit. I would make sure to get enough power so that you could run a heat source and if you have well water, enough to power that too. $500 will buy a 5000 watt generator.
2007-01-16 12:58:17 · answer #3 · answered by hoverlover7 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
particular. incredibly costly. at the beginning they must have starters and the coolest judgment to fireside them up, at the same time with attempting back. 2d, till you purchase a monster which could run something you have gotten on on your place, you need to rewire your place panel so the circuits which you come to a decision are needed - like freezer, frig and heating would be on the gadget that switches over from line ability. and you need to have a gadget that switches over so as that a million. you're actually not attempting to feed ability to the entire grid 2. you're actually not powering lines that electric enterprise everybody is working on, subsequently adverse them. And in case you elect on the spot change over, it gets lots greater costly - that's greater fee-effective to place Uninterruptable ability factors on the few issues that choose it to hold on an identical time as the generator comes as much as velocity.
2016-12-12 13:08:06 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You should have bought one a long time go.
2007-01-16 13:29:57 · answer #5 · answered by Tropical Weasel 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you can afford it and maintain it, yes.
2007-01-16 12:54:18 · answer #6 · answered by brian d 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋