[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Annie66

Our main AC unit died in the middle of the summer. The HVAC repair company provided us a standalone AC unit which we used in the bedroom at night. It was an upright unit that evaporated the condensate and had an exhaust hose that was flush with the screening. The evaporated moisture was blown outside through the hose. Neighbors could not tell there was a window unit operating.

According to the Deed Compliance office, the upright portable air conditioners with a flexible hose window connection are acceptable for use. Only the window unit types are prohibited.

[Nell57]

Been here 15 years…..never lost power more than 4 times for maybe 3 hours.
I value my garage space too much to add anything else.
No matter what you’ve packed so far, in a year you won’t want a third of it

[opinionist]

I had a generator up north and decided to give it away when I moved south. My thinking was underground service should be reliable. I was in a different community when IRMA passed over and lost power for 2 days. Underground service was not the problem. Transformers can fail and it takes time to replace them. In retrospect, it was still a good decision to leave the generator up north. Gas generators make a lot of noise and that is a problem with homes packed close together. I thought about getting a solar generator. Totally quiet and lasts for hours depending on the load.

I had an A/C already installed in my lanai for my first Florida house. I had water leak problems around the A/C and had to remove it. My current house in TV has a mini-split on the lanai and it works great.

[Carlsondm]

If the generator can start and run the portable AC unit, bring it, especially if it is a good quality generator. I have been south of 44 for 5 yrs and only one 8 hour outage. In the summer heat that could be brutal. Rescuing your refrigerator food and meds is another reason to have a small generator. We still have some above ground power lines in the “southern areas” so the 60-70 mph winds from a hurricane (that’s what we get) or drenching electrical storms can interrupt electrical and internet.
If you have equipment you use and love I would bring it. I am kicking myself for selling my Honda gen and oak furniture at the advice of others. The Harbor Freight gen is harder to operate and less efficient.

[SeaCros]

Don’t think you would need either one here. Plus if you are downsizing would have to think of where you would store them in a small space.

[mikemalloy]

Originally Posted by Coop63

My wife and are in the process of downsizing, getting ready for our move to the Villages. I was wondering if I should bring the following items.

- 2400w portable generator, good for keeping furnace, refrigerator and other small appliances running in power outages. Leaning "yes"

- Portable upright room air conditioner. We currently have a multi story home, so nice to provide extra cool to the upstairs office on a hot day. I know most homes in the Villages are single story, so wondering if it would be nice for the lanai? Leaning "no"

Any feedback is appreciated.

I know this is a little later than most replys. First of all, we had a generator up north because storms would take down trees and disrupt power sometimes for a day or two. Been here 10 yrs. and recall one outage for about an hour when a vehicle hit a utility pole. Lines are underground and even hurricanes don't cause a problem is every area except maybe the original section. Here we don't have attics or basements and your primary storage area is your garage. AVOID TAKING ANYTING THAT YOU'LL PROBABLY NEVER USE. You can't afford the storage spece. My advice is no to the generator and the air conditioner. You'll most likely never need either.

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by mikemalloy

Lines are underground and even hurricanes

Many people & posters think this makes The Villages immune from outages.

Lines feeding into The Villages are not all underground.

[BettyInFL]

Originally Posted by Coop63

My wife and are in the process of downsizing, getting ready for our move to the Villages. I was wondering if I should bring the following items.

- 2400w portable generator, good for keeping furnace, refrigerator and other small appliances running in power outages. Leaning "yes"

- Portable upright room air conditioner. We currently have a multi story home, so nice to provide extra cool to the upstairs office on a hot day. I know most homes in the Villages are single story, so wondering if it would be nice for the lanai? Leaning "no"

Any feedback is appreciated.

Our generator has been sitting on our lanai unused, the three years we have lived here. We DO use a portable room a/c because our neighbor cut down the oak tree that shaded our front room, so the FL sun beats into the room keeping it over 80 degrees during the 'sunny' months.

Neighbor also used our portable a/c when their home A/C went out. It was a life saver.

[jpvillager]

I don't see a discussion on GAS STORAGE. Garages here are much hotter than up North. Best to run and store non-ethanol high test gas and add stabilizer. When gas sits for long periods its octane rating will lower. By starting with high test and using stabilizer high test might degrade to mid or regular and still be fine. Because generators set for long periods and they should be started periodically to make sure they will run when they are needed.

[AZ SLIM]

Thinking that you will be able to move to a hotel after a big hurricane might not work out. If a big storm comes, the people from the coast will already have taken up most, if not all of the rooms. For example, I was working hurricane response after Katrina. When the Second one came (Rita) we had to leave while it passed and had to drive all the way to Memphis to find a room. Barely got one then. Way back in '92 we were sent to Kauai following hurricane Iniki. We had to sleep in tents at a park.

[ThirdOfFive]

Originally Posted by jpvillager

I don't see a discussion on GAS STORAGE. Garages here are much hotter than up North. Best to run and store non-ethanol high test gas and add stabilizer. When gas sits for long periods its octane rating will lower. By starting with high test and using stabilizer high test might degrade to mid or regular and still be fine. Because generators set for long periods and they should be started periodically to make sure they will run when they are needed.

Good point about gas.

It does take planning ahead. Our Westinghouse iGen 2500 revs up only if power is called for, and can run for about 10 hours on a tank of gas (approx. one gallon), but probably more under a heavy load. Gasoline isn't a problem. If we need generator gas I just siphon a gallon from the golf cart and we're good to go.

Stale gas can be a problem. I run our generator about once every other month or so (more in summer) to power my lawn tools (mower, hedge trimmer, edger) so I keep the gas relatively fresh. If longer than that and I suspect stale gas, I just dump what is in the tank into a gallon jug and then pour it into the car's tank.