Generator needed??
 

Getting ready to start building a new home soon. Looking for input on whether a generator might be worthwhile. If you’ve been down here a few years, how often do we get power outages, and how long do they last?

Thanks in advance for the input.

Five years between 4666A and 44 on SECO, I think we've lost power twice: one for a couple of hours and one for just less than an hour. Your experience might be different in other areas or on another power company.

I really want to buy one of those cute Honda 2200 units but with my experience over the last five years I just can't justify it to myself.

What I do have is a small uninterruptible power supply (UPS) powering my modem/router and smart-home hub. Between that and my laptop battery I have never lost internet connection which means I've never lost streaming capabilities. It might even run the television but I've never gotten around to trying it.

Since most of the electrical lines are underground here in the Villages, there really isn't any need for a generator unless you have medical equipment to keep running. Same here, 4 years, 2 power outages less than an hour.

Been here 17 years, hadn't needed a generator yet. The underground utilities help a lot.

1 long term outage
 

We have been owners for two years and the longest we have lost power was about 10 hours. It was due to the hurricane and have had Leesburg Electric for our entire time here.

You will be fine with Duke Energy we did not loose power during Milton. You might want to look at the thread going on lightning protection though (158 replies so far) as that could be your next investment question, LOL. BTW, a lot of good past history threads on this forum on darn near anything you want to know about so happy hunting and welcome.

I have a Generac whole house generator on my home in Tennessee. I like it, but I don't think you need on in the villages because long outages are rare. One thing to bear in mind is the maintenance and replacement cost. Assuming you hire it done, maintenance is about $700/year and the unit lasts about 20 years.

You're going to need much more than a generator to feel safe here. Storm windows, Bugs everywhere daily, wildlife, especially snakes and lizards, all day, Hot, humid, and sweaty 6 months a year, don't dare to go outside without a sunburn, bug bite, alligator or snake interaction. It's just part of life here.

///

Generator
 

In Fenney for 7 years. Have whole-house automatic standby natural gas generator. Never needed it.

if you decide to buy a generator a few points to consider.
1. Since natural gas is available its the obvious choice over trips to the local gas station.
2. Make sure you can manually light the pilot light as you will have no electric ⚡ for spark ignition.
Btw. Welcome aboard

I agree with others that you won't need one unless you have lifesaving medical equipment.

Add to that lightning strikes, sinkholes, panthers, wild hogs and bad drivers. Terrible place to live. Your life is constantly in danger. Not to mention that if you want to Golf, play pickleball, softball or other activities you further risk injuries as well. And last but not least, stay away from the multi modal paths where lives are at risk daily.

Agree. 11 years, SECO. Virtually, no disruptions.

20 years. Maybe once or twice for a couple of hours. No generator unless it’s needed for medical reasons.

In our 5 years here, I can count the number of power outages on one hand. They are typically measured in minutes, not hours, and never days.

Generator-YES!
 

We’ve been here 9 years and have a Generac whole house generator. It’s true that we don’t lose power often HOWEVER, when we do, it can be horrible! Imagine trying to sleep during the summer with no A/C! That alone is reason enough for us! Many of our neighbors have them also. Trademark Electric installed and maintains ours.

I would skip the generator. It would be more trouble than it is worth. But if you do buy one, get a quiet one. The one on my street is extremely noisy.

1) Underground power is not underground from the power plant to your house. Somewhere going into your neighborhood, you'll see where it goes from power lines to underground. 2) Friends in Del Webb on 441 said a tornado took out some infrastructure outside their community (before the point where the power went underground) about 8-10 years ago and some people were out of power for up to five days. Plan accordingly.

We've been here nearly 16 yrs, been through one hurricane (Irma) that went right over T.V.---never lost power! We "may" have lost power one time but it was due to one of those large electrical boxes---can't recall the reason---the power was back on within an hour. We live between the 66's with SECO as our provider. Never lost t.v. or internet with storms. I'd save your $$$$$$

Generator needed
 

The Village of Pine Ridge and Pine Hill get their power from Leesburg Electric. Our powerlines are underground within the villages, but are above ground as they travel towards the substation in Leesburg. As a result, we have many more power outages when compared to service provided to other residence’s via Seco.

Not needed, save your money

Don't forget about the asteroids that could potentially hit you if your outside, the sinkholes that suddenly open up and take people, and those pesky alien abductions.

Generac (and others) whole house generators have an automotive type battery on board.

That’s what fires up the starter AND the ignition.

There is no “pilot light” at all .

I once lost power for two days and had to buy ice at the store to keep the refrigerator cold. I came close to replacing the food in the freezer. I purchased a solar generator battery, which is quiet, but only lasts for a limited time. It never gets cold enough for pipes to freeze; there is city water, so I left my gas generator up north.

I would think about solar panels and a battery system you could use that daily not just when the power is out

Just bc no lengthy power outages in the past, doesn’t mean it can’t or won’t happen. Knowing there’s a backup, is priceless.

We have lived here 16 years. SECO is our supplier and they are quick to repair any problems. We have not had an outage for more than 2 hours. There are more important things to consider, surge protection, insect protection, insulation, lightning mitigation. If you want a generator I suggest you wait until you have lived here for a few years before purchasing one.

Don’t waste your money.

Power lost twice in 15 years!
 

We live in the upper north east corner of Sumter County in The Villages and our home is 22 years old. Once we lost power for 5 minutes and the 2nd time was 15 minutes. Our cable and Internet have gone out exceedingly more times than our power has - and for considerably longer periods! :ohdear:

Echoing most of the other sentiments here...

We moved here in 2020. One of the first things I did was to go to Home Depot and buy a portable generator: Westinghouse iGen 2500, which will run pretty much everything in the house except the AC, and as we have a couple of really large fans I figured that if worst came to worst those fans would be enough to tide us over until the juice came back on.

Turns out that the only thing I've used the generator for is to power my lawn mower, and that only occasionally so that the generator stays in running order. We've lost power a few times, mostly only for minutes, and as far as I know caused by accidents or planned interruptions caused by construction in the area, the longest being about two hours.

You could certainly buy a portable generator for your peace of mind: they're not very expensive and don't take up that much room in the garage. But buying a whole-house hardwired-in generator is, imo, overkill.

I have a 2,000 running watts GE generator for sale. Comes complete with manual and has never been used. Will sell for $350.00. I’m in the northern part of The Villages.

Agree with this. We have lived in Pine Hills for 8 years, get our electricity from Leesburg Electric and have had numerous outages. During the last outage I walked around our neighborhood and heard lots of generators. Talked to our neighbor across the street who has had a generator for several years and is smart on these topics, did some research and we finally bought one. We shall see if we need it this hurricane season!

My bride and myself have been here (Pine Hills) since May, 2019. We brought a generat
 

My bride and myself have been here (Pine Hills) since May, 2019. We brought a generator with us that we had previously owned from our business in Wisconsin down to The Villages in anticipation of power outages. The one and only time I have used it was during hurricane Milton. Lost power for roughly ten hours. Would I buy a generator after having been here for six years? Unless you have medical concerns that might require you to have power, I would say, ABSOLUTELY NOT!

One of the best moves that the developer made was to install underground power. Have only had one power problem in 7 years. In that case lightning hit our house and main panel was destroyed. Generator would not have helped us.

Generator addition
 

I'd install one and put it into the mortgage(if you have one). Spoiled food in the refrigerator/freezer alone might pay for it first outage. Have a 'gas' one hooked up to the meter that come on automatically ...

We have SECO power. Had two hurricane's last year and never lost power.

We own a Honda 3000 SI generator, and the only time it gets used it every three months I start it to keep it's starting battery charged...

Also make sure you run non ethanol fuel if you buy one.

12 years here, have lost power once for about an hour.
That being said…different areas have been effected differently.

We just had a whole 26 Kw whole home generator installed last week. Wanted Kohler like the one we have up north. Shopped around and got quotes from a bunch of companies. Accurate Power & Technology shockingly was about 20% cheaper and more in line with what I paid previously. They were complete, professional, and easy to work with. Other than cost the biggest advantage to using them was that they were turn key. They did all the permitting and plumbed the gas line etc. Many of the other quotes, while more expensive required me to outsource various parts of the project. Now that we have it in, I'm confident no one will lose power for years !!

What kind of maintenance does it require?

Hope you have better luck than our neighbor, their 2 year old unit fails self test every 2-3 months.

Might want to give it a 12 hr test at full load sometime.