Given that your budget is $1500, you cannot afford what I would call a "decent" 6-7Kw generator. You might as well buy two $750 Generacs or whatever brand of over-rated, cheaply made set your local big box store carries. Then one of the pair might actually be operational when you need it.

At $12-1500 about all you get for your money over a $750 set is a larger fuel tank, electric start and some fancy decals and a few more outlets. It is still a lawnmower engine with a very optimistically rated generator attached. If you call my attitude pompous, so be it, but keep in mind that few things are as irritating as sitting in the dark beside a failed generator.

I too survived the storm in CT, and am shopping for a generator. I see a LOT of negative feedbacks on Generacs (including Centurion) . Seems oil leaks and missing parts
are a common complaint. Looks like a low power, better quality generator for me.

My opinion is it's not worth the money to buy a generator, unless you use it frequently. Additionally, any item that's idle for a long period of time, may develop problems that prevent it from performing.

What you are buying is reliability.

Now the link below if for a Canadian product in a Canadian store but it's an idea/starting point if you wanted to go built-in, it runs on propane OR natural gas. If the NG supply remains reliable then you wouldn't have to worry about aging fuel or delivery, and it includes its own transfer switch.

I keep seeing them in the store and thinking they'd be cool, but our power here is very reliable, and I have a gas fireplace that doesn't need power so I'm fairly well covered. I would get more out of my money buying a hot tub, but still...

I saw generators of all kinds during our month long ordeal. The ones that failed were largely Generacs (see above), Chinese junk (thrown connecting rods), and those of any brand that were run far too long without checking/adding coolant and checking/adding/changing changing oil. Also saw many failed units due to overloading- the sticker on a new "5000 watt" generator is the only thing that will last more than a few days if you actually draw 5000 watts for hours at a time.

The setups that worked? Tractor driven PTO generators. Water cooled diesels like Cummins, Kubota, Isuzu. Air cooled Yanmar diesels. 20 year old Onan and Kohler sets. Homelites with "cast iron" Briggs engines. Motorhome generators. Water cooled propane sets with Ford, GM, Chrysler industrial engines. Honda and Yamaha portables.

Any generator is fine for a one hour outage. Just about any one will also do for a one day outage. Few are OK for a one week outage. Even fewer will still be running after 3 weeks.

I used it for 8 days straight that we were without power here in Suffield CT. I shut it down during the day for a few hours since it was nice weather (after the snow...), but otherwise I ran my house for 8 days with this for at least 19 hours per day. My largest loads were my well pump (340 ft deep with a 1C HP pump) and my boiler (hot water & baseboard heating). But, I also ran a full size freezer, full size fridge, 1800W microwave, two garage door openers, 65 inch plasma TV , virtually all the lights in the house (not that we turned them all on at once), washing machine, and even my son's Wii! Basically, the only things I didn't run was our dryer or oven.

This was my 4th use of the genny since I bought it, which previously, I used it twice for about 8-12 hours and once for 30 hours.

I bought mine at electricgeneratorsdirect.com, although I see this model is now discontinued.

I should add for the most part the running load in my house was under 1000 watts. When the well pump and boil turn on, they draw a surge, but once started, the running load was quite low. Running the microwave to cook dinner was the largest load on it. When the nuke turned on with the freezer, fridge, heat and well pump running, the load was about 2200 Watts on that one leg.

So, I don't know... I am certainly not complaining. Some neighbors genny's failed during this extended stretch... mine didn't. Ran like a champ and still does. Do I think the power quality is perfect - doubtful, but it sure beats no power! Mine does not leak oil or stall. My only gripe is it's difficult to pour oil from the quart into the filler, but I just stuck a tube onto the end of a funnel. I did change the oil twice in these 8 days as I have read these things are tough on oil. Manual states to change only every 100 hours, but...

Your mileage may vary ;)

Good luck!
Chip

I am biased in that do like the Honda generators. They are very nice and will get the job done. Having said that there are other generators out there that are cheaper and will work. I would avoid stuff at Home Depot and Lowes, and try and look around for a "professional" generator. Ask around any builder friend you may have and ask them what they use.
Look for one with a 240V, two phase, output which you can hook up to a transfer switch for your house.

One of the key needs of any generator is maintenance. They need to be maintained like a car almost. So depending on where you are, it is useful to have a good dealer close by for parts and advice.

Generators are also heavy, so look for one with wheels if you are in the 6KW - 7KW range. In general heavy is good, more copper, more chunky engine etc.

Remember to allow room in your budget for some wiring work. Transfer switch, NEMA plug. And also think where you are going to put this generator. It will be noisy, and can kill you if you get Carbon Monoxide poisioning. You want the place to be able to vent exhaust, but also be dry and away from the weather. That place should also have somewhere where you can chain the generator in case someone tries to steal it.

You will also need some petrol cans. Maybe four 5 gallon plastic ones. Home Depot ones are fine. I think in most town rules, you cannot store more than 20 gallons due to fire risk. When you buy the petrol do not forget to put in the fuel stabilizer, e.g. Stabil (Home Depot). Try and store the petrol away from your house for safety.

Being without power is a royal pain, and I think for about $US 3,000 you can get a usuable set up. Maybe $US 1,500 for the gen set and another $US 1,500 for the wiring.

All the best Mike.

These generators don't put out 2 phases - it's a split-phase 240VAC - i.e. single phase. Same as your house wiring. My generator has a floating neutral so I didn't need the additional kit to switch the neutral.

In this recent outage, I also did go out and bought two new CO /explosive gas detectors which set me back another $120.

I also have an 10x10' "EZ-UP" pop-up tent that I use for protection, but in the heavy snow that occurred I had to go out every 30 minutes and dump the snow off the collapsing top!

Good point about gas cans too. I only had 1 5 gallon can, and after 2 day being without power I tried to buy a 2nd... guess what... none to be found. There was no gas to be found for a while either...

It might be worthwhile to look for a 'nicer' model that someone else has been storing in their garage and is tired of looking at. If you keep your eyes open deals pop up. There are also apps that will notify you anytime a certain ad shows up so you can jump at the deal before many people see it.

A jet airliner at 50 feet away would exceed 140 dBA and, without ear protection, will typically cause permanent loss of hearing - an average lawn mower is around 75-80 dBA.

dB is a logarithmic scale - you may want to google "dBA noise levels" for comparisons of various sources and an explanation of dB and A-weighted dB scales.

http://powerequipment.honda.com/content/images/pages/generators/dbchar t.jpg

Its benefits doesn't compare to any other portable generator on the market. The best cempetitor would be Honda, many people I know would recommend them but I've done my reaearch and Yamaha is the way to go.

To name just a few of the many benefit that you get from Yamaha generators, the warranty( Honda used to be the better choice with a two year warranty, until Yamaha hit the market and is now offering up to a 6 year warranty), and the sound/noise( The largest one I've seen is the Yamaha EF4500iSE, its holds 4500 watt maximum and only get about 58-60 decibles) Find out more about Yamaha generators here. I think a Yamaha Would be the perfect coice for you and your home during a power outage. Hope you find what your looking for.

-Generator Xpert.