For the first time in my 36 years we were without power for 72 hours. Now I now that for some of you on the east coast that is laughable, but it's new to me....
I just wanted to say to everyone that our generator made life A LOT better. I have a Generac 8000xp, and it nicely provided us all the essentials, plus some light and even TV for a bit. I wouldn't go any smaller than 8000watts, but I bet you could get by on 4000w with the bare necessities - especially if you don't have to run a well pump.
The Generac's are good quality but you pay for them, but for anyone who is on a tighter budget, or may only use their geni once and a while, my cousin has put 1200 hours on a yellow and black "Champion" brand generator sold at Costco. An 8000w Champion is about 800$, the Generac about 1700$ at Home Depot, or 1300$ on Amazon. For my Canadian brotherin, Can Tire sells Champion too, so if you git yurself the CanTire app and set a sale alert it'll tell you when they go on sale - sometimes 50 or 60% off.......
I'd also strongly suggest looking into a transfer switch type setup that will allow you to easily and safely feed your house panel without having extension cords all over hell through open windows, etc. They're about 3-500$ and worth every penny after the first 6 hours.
-J.
I just wanted to say to everyone that our generator made life A LOT better. I have a Generac 8000xp, and it nicely provided us all the essentials, plus some light and even TV for a bit. I wouldn't go any smaller than 8000watts, but I bet you could get by on 4000w with the bare necessities - especially if you don't have to run a well pump.
The Generac's are good quality but you pay for them, but for anyone who is on a tighter budget, or may only use their geni once and a while, my cousin has put 1200 hours on a yellow and black "Champion" brand generator sold at Costco. An 8000w Champion is about 800$, the Generac about 1700$ at Home Depot, or 1300$ on Amazon. For my Canadian brotherin, Can Tire sells Champion too, so if you git yurself the CanTire app and set a sale alert it'll tell you when they go on sale - sometimes 50 or 60% off.......
I'd also strongly suggest looking into a transfer switch type setup that will allow you to easily and safely feed your house panel without having extension cords all over hell through open windows, etc. They're about 3-500$ and worth every penny after the first 6 hours.
-J.