[ThirdOfFive]

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.

[Lottoguy]

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.

[HIgolfers]

Originally Posted by mikeberk

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.

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!

[Curt Steele]

Originally Posted by MFN-VAN

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.

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!

[kkingston57]

Originally Posted by MFN-VAN

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.

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.

[Tamerack]

Originally Posted by MFN-VAN

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.

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 ...

[USOTR]

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.

[paulajr]

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

Originally Posted by MFN-VAN

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.

[jayteadunn]

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 !!

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by jayteadunn

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.

[Altavia]

When a hurricane threatens Florida, SECO has stationed up to 4,000 trucks and crews just south of 470.

SECO Storm Staging Area?

[lottimeier]

If you build on the "historic" side (Orange Blossom / Silver Lake) a generator is a must — last year’s power outage lasted 33 hours. But I agree, if you build where the power lines are underground, you probably won’t need one. Good luck, and welcome!

[TomSwango]

Originally Posted by MFN-VAN

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.

I have had generators, both large and small, diesel and gas, for over 25 years, but when we purchased in The Villages I quickly realized that it was a poor choice. I currently use a couple of power banks that are more than adequate to run my freezer in the garage and my refrigerator in the house and they have been more than adquate for more temporary outages.
Genrators are loud and require fuel. So you may want to ask yourself how much fuel you will need to store to run a generator for 48 hours and then how safe would it be to store that fuel in you house. In addition to being dangerous, fuel does not last indefinitely and is quite heavy.
My power banks stay charged, and I can easily plug the refrigerator into one and the freezer garage into the other and I am good for a couple of days depending on how many times the frigerators doors are opened and closed.
respectfully, Tom

[Carlsondm]

We have medical needs and did not get the whole house generator. Seco is very responsive and power is seldom out. We had outages of 2.5 weeks in Michigan. Lightening is more of a concern in TV. Hurricanes are usually70-90 mph by the time they get here .. from either coast. Just bring in all things that can blow around and beat your house and you should be fine. Your home should be built to 150 mph or better.
For our medical needs, we have a small generator that can run our extra refrigerator. We also have a neighbor with a generator.

[bilcon]

Originally Posted by MFN-VAN

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.

We have lived in TV for 16 years and have never lost power or cable.