[jimmy o]

Had a portable 5kv up north. Found it to be useful a couple times. But down here where pipes don’t freeze I see no need for it.
Let’s assume your power here goes out. It then becomes a comparison of outage duration and costs. Electric company will give you an estimate of outage length. If it’s a few hours, go see a movie and keep your fridge door closed.
If it’s a few days go to a hotel. Cost to replace food probably a couple hundred bucks, and cost of hotel room vs cost of generator.
A small portable generator to power electronics is nice but house might get too hot to allow you comfort: cost $300-$1000 depending on size.
A large automatic whole house generator would be very nice and you wouldn’t even know you lost power: cost $10,000 - $15,000 depending on size. Add in cost of fuel and rest runs and price goes up.
Me, I find it cost effective to just go to a movie for a brief outage, or buy fresh food and go to a hotel for any lengthy outage that most likely will never happen.

[kcrazorbackfan]

Originally Posted by kkingston57

Good air flow around the exhaust is the key. Might lose friendship of neighbors. These generators are loud.

So, to keep comfortable and a few things running, you’d be worried about losing the friendships your neighbors? Trust me, they wouldn’t be concerned about you one bit if they had one and needed to use it.

[nn0wheremann]

Originally Posted by jayerose

just wondering.

Nope. However I do have an inverter that will run a lamp, box fan, TV and internet router off th golf cart and car batteries, and the car has a 70 amp hour alternator to recharge those.

[JayBee]

I have had the Honda 2000 quiet portable generator for 15 years, It is well insulated and very quiet,I dont know offhand what the DB rating is, but when its outside your home you barely hear it.Very very reliable as well, and this one has never needed repairs.

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by jayerose

just wondering.

I wonder what does it matter what most do. I've considered buying one but have not. First of all what do you want to run on it. To power your AC you need a large one. Do you have room to store one? Fuel how much gasoline do you want to keep in your garage?

[Velvet]

Originally Posted by kcrazorbackfan

So, to keep comfortable and a few things running, you’d be worried about losing the friendships your neighbors? Trust me, they wouldn’t be concerned about you one bit if they had one and needed to use it.

Also, in my case I would share a bit of power. My neighbors were there for me (up and down the street) when I needed it most.

[samquiros]

I paid the electrical contractor who did my house to install a 50 amp plug so I could connect a generator and power the house. I purchased a 9000 watt dual fuel inverter generator and installed a soft start system on my AC. I’ve tested it and it works great. It runs my AC and all the fans and lights/plugs. If I want to run the microwave or the washer/dryer, I have to turn the AC off.

If I never need it, so be it. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. I wouldn’t want to be one hour without power, much less 1 day or 1 week.

[Professor]

Originally Posted by rsmurano

Portable generators are worthless IMO. We could have major outages caused by many storms, like the hurricane now. Tornados could take down the large hi voltage towers or substations and recovery time could be many days to weeks. How would it be like to live in TV when the heat index is over 100? What’s a portable generator going to provide you in relief to this? The best option would be to install a whole house backup generator to power your AC, refrigerator, microwave, TV’s, etc.. that would automatically power up (or power down) when the power grid goes down. They are a few thousands of $$$ but could be well worth it

My goodness...can't get by with a fan for a few days?

[banjobob]

A lot of people do have portable generators , I have one never used in 11 years most electric in TV is buried cables, high tension are exposed.transmission lines.

[Freehiker]

I have a Honda 2000i. I haven’t needed it here yet, but I have used it camping and such. It’s small, and I would rather have it just in case.

[Freehiker]

Originally Posted by kcrazorbackfan

So, to keep comfortable and a few things running, you’d be worried about losing the friendships your neighbors? Trust me, they wouldn’t be concerned about you one bit if they had one and needed to use it.

You would make MORE friends because they would all be knocking on your door asking to charge their phones, use your internet…etc.

[midiwiz]

Originally Posted by jayerose

just wondering.

Why? been in FL since 2006 we have never found a reason to own one

[Freehiker]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

The Honda 2200W generator sold on Amazon is advertised as "super quiet". Is that not true?

Yes, it is true.

There’s a big difference in a good inverter like the Honda, and a normal generator.

[KenLee100]

Originally Posted by jayerose

just wondering.

I checked it out last year and decided it was not worth the money for us.
Most power losses are due to trees pulling down wires at your home or in the neighborhood. The power company tries to restore power to the large blackouts first (due to press and government scrutiny) and leave the individual homes for last.
We have underground wires here in St Catherine.

[Babubhat]

Not lost power in 12 years living here. Buy before a storm and return if not needed