Not gardening but homeowners have discussed here before. Finally had it with power company and wife agrees we need generator. Home Depot and Lowes here seem to have very limited choices. Question to group is who is good reliable mail order supplier that they have dealt with?
Thanks. They send their catalog but I don't keep it. Should be reliable. Frank
Before you buy that generator you want to do some more research. The generators at home depot and lowes are more for contractors, the type that you put a few gallons of gas into and crack it up like a lawnmower. You plug them into an outside wall plug and that supplies electricity.
That type of generator is not good for high-tech equipment. When we owned a weekly newspaper in a mountain community we did some heavy research on generators to see what we could do about more reliable power. The electricity that comes out of the little generators fluctuate so much that they can actually damage your computers, stereo and tv.
What you want to look for are the big generators that will connect directly to the box that has your main power switch. The bigger generators will run off your natural gas supply so you don't have to be sure that you have that 5 gallon gas tank in your garage. The bigger generators are actually quieter than the little ones.
Yes, the big ones cost a lot, but they add value to your home. The little ones will probably cause you more hassle by tripping your breakers.
We actually sold our house before we bought the bigger generator but our neighbor had one that worked really well.
Here's the one he bought,
John Patrick,
Speak for your local stores maybe, but both Lowe's and Home Depot have whole house permanent mount generators that run on propane and some that run on diesel. Not saying they have the best pricing, but they are available locally.
Tom J
After the third power failure in a week, I bought a generator at Home Depot. I discussed with local lawn mower shop that deals in Hondas, very expensive, and they said Sears and Home Depot generators with actual Generac generator parts were best. Unit is Briggs and Stratton with Generac generator. Now I'm looking into installation. Noise not a problem as guy across the street has noisy one and next door neighbor just bought a Coleman (which mower shop says are junk). We don't have gas service so I'll be using gasoline. Main need for well, furnace and freezers so I'll need to have it hooked into home power supply.
Appreciate comments on sensitive electronics. My computers are on surge protectors and APC's. All others, microwave, TV's etc, are on surge protectors. Over thirty years in this house, worse case was 3 days with no power. Correspondent on the Red Neck Riveria, where power can be out for weeks, got whole house gas system. Those long gas lines after the hurricanes, are unfortunate folk trying to buy gasoline for their generators and pumps are not in service.
Frank
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