Do you have a generator in case your power goes out?

qualitygal · ‎10-04-2010

Hubs went out to start ours up the other day and it didn't start. He's sent for a piece that isn't there, and we'll see if he can fix that.

He thinks we should get a new one if we can't fix it, but I'm saying law of averages, and past experience to me doesn't seem that wise anymore to have one. I'm just kind of torn on whether to get a new one if he can't get this one fixed or not. It is a big purchase for us now and I'm just not convinced that it's needed.

Do you have one and would you replace it if it quit? Ours is 15 yrs. old (already!). Maybe needed it 3 times, but not for long. I think we can do ok w/o one. Maybe someone has some thoughts I have no thoughts on yet.

bonnielu · ‎03-11-2010

Thought about it. Even researched it. Seems that in our case unless we buy a very expensive one with all the bells and whistles it would not be safe for us. I just don't want to take a chance. Neither of us is handy so it would be someone else installing it and someone else fixing it. So far the longest we have ever been out was 26 hours. I timed it minute by minute waiting for the fix.

fthunt · ‎12-24-2010

Have one - installed 2000, so 15 years same as yours. Husband's idea - he died and I had it upgraded to auto exercising every week. Buying one I think it depends on where you live. I'm in a sub - lots of houses so power company would put immediate attention to my area - however, if you're out in the booneys (country) you would probably get your power back AFTER eveybody else got theirs. (ice storm - blizzard). So I think it's an individual choice.

To repair your unit - I wouldn't fuss with it - I'd call a generator company..... which reminds me.... my service company just reminded me it's time for an oil change and yearly servicing. Hope this helps in your decision. :-)

Nickname1 · ‎03-17-2010

Yes, we purchased one after a strong summer storm that knocked out our power for a few day, but didn't really use it until Hurracane Irene came through. Would have used it more after Sandy, but power outage was so wide spread that you couldn't even get fuel.

My main reason for having it is we have a sump pump and without power our basement would be flooded.

It's maintained so it's already to go when needed.

jackthebear · ‎03-11-2010

@qualitygal wrote:
Hubs went out to start ours up the other day and it didn't start. He's sent for a piece that isn't there, and we'll see if he can fix that.

He thinks we should get a new one if we can't fix it, but I'm saying law of averages, and past experience to me doesn't seem that wise anymore to have one. I'm just kind of torn on whether to get a new one if he can't get this one fixed or not. It is a big purchase for us now and I'm just not convinced that it's needed.

Do you have one and would you replace it if it quit? Ours is 15 yrs. old (already!). Maybe needed it 3 times, but not for long. I think we can do ok w/o one. Maybe someone has some thoughts I have no thoughts on yet.

is this a standby one or a portable?

if standby I would get it serviced before it gets stormy and see what they say

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

We actually have two.

We used to have problems with a basement drain that would back up and flood during hard rain storms. Installed sump, ran new drainage, and several thousand dollars later, all fixed.

Till the power went out in a storm, and the sump didn't work. So I wasn't going to deal with the mess one more time. We went out and got a generator in late 1999. I'm sure people thought we were wigging out over Y2K, but I was just wigging out over a flooding basement.

Fast forward several years, and we had a big ice storm here. Power was out for five days. Our generator was just enough for us to keep fridges and freezers running, cycle the heat with the water pump, and we were good to go. When everyone around us was cold, we were warm, had lights, could do laundry, cook take a shower or what ever, just had to cycle the big things a little. At day five, we decided a bigger generator was probably necessary for such long outages, and we bought another, bigger one.

We sometimes go more than a year without needing one, but I'd never be without them again. We have a barn that is removed from the house, so we don't have any concerns with carbon monoxide poising, and it keeps the noise down to a dull roar inside the house. It is wired in to the fuse out in the barn, and we simply kill the main power switch in the house and the power feeds right in. Don't really understand the technical side of all that but it works. One has a rope pull, that I can't use without help, but the other is an electric start. Both have to be turned on by someone, they aren't the standby by type. I'd love one of those, but no natural gas in this area, and we'd have to add a huge propane tank just for that. That gets really costly because you don't use the gas up quickly, and pay lots of surcharges.

Ours run on gasoline and they do eat a lot of it. I try to keep at least 35 to 40 gallons of gas on hand just in case. We have discovered, too, that having power every hour of every day during an outage is not really necessary, and now know that in order to save gas, and wear on the generator, we cycle it on for several hours, so the fridge and freezers stay cold, and we can bathe, do laundry, or what ever we need to do with power, then turn them off for several hours (especially overnight).

Everyone's situation is different, but I'd never be without a generator again if I could help it.

Group 5 minus 1 · ‎03-11-2010

We have a Generac. Best thing we ever bought. It runs on propane. It is also programmed to test once a week. Because we have a well if electricity goes out the pump dosen't work but with the Generac it does.It also keeps our freezers and fridges going. We live waaaay out in the woods and we often lose power.

embgm · ‎07-02-2014

We have a generator and have used it many times. A couple of years ago our electricity went out 4 times in oneand one of those times was for several days. We were very happy we had the generator.

Group 5 minus 1 · ‎03-11-2010

Quality Gal: If the power goes out we can not flush the toilet.

Nightowlz · ‎03-11-2010

We have a portable generator. If we lived in the country I would have a home generator installed for sure. We have only used ours one other time since the 1st use when we bought it. We were without power for almost 5 days. We had an ice storm & about froze. We left the the next day & drove a couple hours to stay in a warm hotel room. We figured if we were going to pay for hotel bills we might as well pay for a generator. Went to Sam's bought a generator & went back home. We hooked it up to our heater, refrigerator, freezer, the neighbors freezer, the TV & computer. We cooked out on the grill so we could eat some hot food. DH always checks ours to make sure it's working before winter, after winter or any time we hear of bad weather. We always make sure we have gas to run it. They always turn the power back on at commercial sites before residential. If you now ahead of time you may lose power full a bath tub up with water. You can use it so you can at least flush the toilet.