Have a Home Generator?

[bebe]

We are seriously considering one. After living 14 days without electricity due to Hurrican Ike, an alternative source of power for our home
seems like something we want.

But oh my gosh, the cost!!

Of course, we may not have a direct hit from a hurricane for many years, but who knows, it''s a huge gamble.
In the past 2 weeks, we have lost power 5 times. I suspect the local electrical grid cannot keep up with the immense
load due to our high temperatures. (102 on Thurs.)

It''s a tough decision. I could have a new car for what this thing will cost. Most of our neighbors already have them.
In the days after Hurrican Ike, our neighborhood was buzzing with generators. Ours would be a natural gas powered one,
very quiet and automatic.

Does anyone have one - thoughts?

 

[Shoopy]

Every home in a hurricane area should have two things: a big grill

and a generator.

We don't have either because we live in a condo but FI's parents do. With Katrina we were without power for about 1.5 weeks. All of the meals we cooked on the grill and the generator we used for fans and the fridge. They have a small one that cost them a couple of thousand but its worth it.

If you're going to get one, do it sooner rather than later. They're not supposed to hike prices but they usually do

Would you be able to deduct on your taxes?

 

[bebe]

we have a large gas grill and I have a natural gas cooktop, so cooking wasn''t too much of an issue.

the generator we are thinking about is very large, built-in and comes on within minutes of losing power.
a local company has offered this generator to us at a good discount, seems someone ordered it and
then backed out. Still it is almost 20,000. !!
the smaller portable generators are almost useless to us. we need power for our pool equip, a/c''s,
frig/freezer and a few lights. We also have install hurdles which adds greatly to the cost. almost 3 grand!
After Ike, it took my husband 4 days to clean out the pool, without power, it got icky real fast, ha ha.
We threw out everything in our frig and freezer. Another issue many people don''t realize is a house sitting
without a/c in hot, muggy heat can develop mold. You may see it, may not. So many homes are built
air tight and this is often at the root of the mold problem.

 

[~*Alexis*~]

We have a small gas powered one. They do work wonders. Get one, even if you don''t use it on your house, you can use it camping or a huge project that you dont want to run your electric bill up for.

Yes, you can deduct the amount on your taxes as well.

 

[packrat]

We''re talking about a small one. Not enough power to run the whole house, but enough to get us by.

 

[soocool]

We have a gasoline powered generator (bought over 10 years ago) that we have used a number of times, but if I lived in an area that has historically had a number of outages I would seriously consider an in place natural gas powered generator no matter what the cost. Our house is all electric so I wouldn''t be able to get water or even flush the toilets because we are septic or run the sump pump. We had the electrician wire for the entire house, but have a chart of what we can run at one time on the generator. Our generator however is loud!

We also bought a window unit air conditioner in case the outages are in the summer the 4 of us can all be in the master bedroom and comfortable!

 

[Dancing Fire]

bought this Honda generator for my koi pond just in case we lose power,but that would be rare in our area. this Honda runs very quit with enough power for my koi pond and the frig plus a few electrical outlets.

 

[diamondringlover]

Yes we have a gasoline generator, we bought it after the ice storm in 2004 and as a matter of fact it is running right now, we had a terrible storm last night, knocked down trees and tore down electic lines, so I am darn glad we have one

 

[upgrade]

We had an RV until recently so when we had a power outage we would run an extension cord from the RV''s generator to the house. It was SO convenient! We''ve since sold the RV but we''re going to buy a little Honda gas generator for the house. We don''t live in a hurricane zone or anything like that but we have kids and you just can''t beat the convenience of being able to have lights and heat and a working fridge and microwave with the kids. Or a coffee maker and blow dryer and tv for me!

 

[bebe]

Having this monster installed is quite an undertaking. But once we have it, we will have full power to our home. This generator is actually
a small commercial unit. It will be very quiet, so thankfully we won''t bug our neighbors.
After Hurricane Ike, finding gasoline for a small portable generator was an issue and when you found it, you had to line up for
a long wait. With this natural gas one, that problem will be solved. It''s ton more dollars than we originally thought it would be,
but we can be assured of comfortable conditions if we ever get hit like we did during Ike.