Roberta

We have a Guardian whole house generator. Since we bought it last year we haven't had a power outage but we had an ice storm in Maine years ago in January and our power was out for 8 days. Since we're on a well and in the country, we had to shovel snow into buckets and then put those into our tub to use the resulting water to flush.

The generator is pricey but I don't ever want to sit in a freezing cold house with no heat or water and no way to cook. We now have a gas stove so we can cook and we can stay warm.

patsynel

We have a generator that operates on natural gas and are very pleased with it. Didn't have to use it during Isacc. During Gustav we had a difficult time finding regular gas so we decided to have one installed that used natural gas.

sweet

I am also looking into a getting one that uses natural gas. I had to cool off in the car a few times. Throwing a lot of food away was very sad.

CindyA

We couldn't afford the whole house automatically kick-in generator so we bought the portable one. Of course, we haven't had to use it yet! But it sure is nice knowing I'm not going to have to throw away a refrigerator full of food again. I've had to do that before and it just makes me sick.

Rann

Just never crank one in the house. Ask my friend how her son found out. He was just going to check something on the computer (E was out) and it killed him.

lynnie

I just looked them up last night. I live in a condo and cant use one. Good luck.

linynp

Oh I have one that does essentially the whole house and it's tapped into the gas line so I don't have to worry about filling etc. I got it when 8+ yrs ago the northeast went down when the plant up by niagra falls went down during Yankee playoffs! Mom is a die hard fan and was going thru chemo. Well it's been a life saver! And went the hurricane 2 yrs ago knocked out power for 2 weeks I had no worries except I still had to vacuum and do the laundry lol! It's a piece of mind for me that my frail mom is always ok. I'm a fan. I do do yearly maintance on it and after prolonged use.

stitchincat

Hi,We just re entry bought and installed it..It runs our whole house....When hurricane Isaac came through about after a min power was off and it kicked on..It ran for 12hours before our power was restored..best money we ever spent...

QuiltnLady1

We have a whole house gererac on a transfer switch so when the power goes out it automatically turns on. It is wonderful since we have had a number of long term power outages during the winter (one was 6 days). I don't remember what we paid (we got it about 12 years ago), but when it is freezing out and the power is out it certainly pays for itself.

cwcquilters

We live in Ohio and have had several outages. The last one being 6 days. We not only run our house on it, we have 2 rentals; that are close enough that we had an outlet installed so they could run their refrigeration and or furnaces, whichever the case may be. Ours is 4 years old, operates from natural gas, and we just had something happen to it, from a lightening strike we think, and the repair cost is such that we have decided to replace it with a different brand and one that is larger so we do not need to be concerned with running the air conditioning or the washer and drier. Get a service contract also. They come every year, change the oil and check it out. Also should there be a problem with it you have a reliable source to come. We would not be without it. Especially since renters can up and leave, ours are great right now, we have the ability to keep the units warm if need be to prevent water pipes from freezing in the winter which is why we installed our unit to begin with and we wouldn't be without it.