When and Why You Should Consider Purchasing a Home Generator

At a recent neighborhood meeting in our small rural town, the subject of seasonal storms and natural disasters was raised: the speaker asked how many of the participants owned any emergency preparedness equipment. To my shock, a majority of my neighbors raised their hands! Nearly all had home gasoline powered home generators. I have now joined them, having purchased one for our home.

If you are a homeowner and live in a region with frequent power outages, thunderstorms, winter storms, or basement flooding, a home generator is probably one of the wisest purchases you could make. But given that it is a hefty investment, how do you know if you should purchase one?

If you are likely to experience either of the following scenarios, you should have a home generator:

1) Power outages in cold weather due to winter storms: Unless you have an alternative heat source, such as a wood stove, loss of electricity also means loss of household heat because modern furnaces, whether they run on natural gas or oil, require electricity to operate. Thus, there are two disagreeable results from winter outages: First: it would be too cold to live in your house while waiting for the power to be restored. And second: the lack of heat can cause the pipes to freeze and burst, resulting in hundreds of dollars worth of damage. (Draining the pipes might be an answer, but the process can be tricky and not completely successful, even when done carefully).

2) If you have basement flooding that is controlled by an electric sump pump, but also have frequent thunderstorm-based power outages: You could find yourself with rising water levels and no way to intervene. This too could result in extensive and expensive damage.

Home generators can either be installed to run as a back up for a furnace (which requires an electrician), or can be left uninstalled and used with extension cords to power appliances and lights. They vary enormously in size and price from small models that can run only a furnace, or an appliance and a few light bulbs, to huge models that can sustain an entire house. Prices range from approximately $350.00 to several thousand dollars for larger models. Because they produce both noise and fumes, home generators must be set-up to run outside the house. They are heavy and difficult to move, thus the larger models are sold with a portable cart.

I purchased a very small portable generator-one that holds four gallons of gasoline and would provide 3500 watts of electricity for about twelve hours before having to refill it.

You can find home generators at home improvement stores such as Home Depot or Lowe's as well as at some farm supply-type hardware stores. They can also be purchased from numerous online vendors, but the enormous cost of shipping them may make it more economical to buy them locally.

When you shop for a home generator, it is important to find a sales person who is actually knowledgeable about their hook-up and use.

Though I hesitated to spend money on an appliance which I hope I'll rarely have to use, the peace of mind it has given me has been well worth it.