Anyone own one that they have used and like?

We're in New England, where power outages are a regular occurrence. However, we've only experienced 2 small ones in the several years we've lived here, so we're in no hurry at this time to buy a generator. But if we lose power in a large way this winter, we may want to check out the spring sales for marked down portable gasoline models.

I recall seeing an episode of This old house where they covered generators. There is apparently more to it than just buying one. Sorting out how it hooks up to your house and what you want to keep powered is critical (fridge, water heater, lights etc) .

I have a portable (wheelable) petrol generator, which I have thankfully never need to use. If I was buying one today I would buy a natural gas "installed" one, wired directly to the breaker box. If you have propane I think that is another alternative fuel supply for an installed generator.

When i was on cape cod i had an open fire and plenty of wood in the garage prior to a storm. Heat was all that was important. Although i did have a gas furnace it didn't work without electric, strange that, You'd think they would have a small battery backup to run the electronic controls for a gas furnace?

My thinking was that if i had a whole house generator then I'll only have a flood of people knocking on the door wanting to come inside.

We have a 10,000w portable generator. I use it on the ranch in the bed of the pickup to run my welder when building fence. I installed a generator transfer switch and breaker panel at the ranch. I can wheel the generator to the outdoor power inlet and hook it up there. It can run all my circuits except central heating and central air. In one room I have a portable AC unit and small electric wall heater. In the event of a prolonged outage we could retreat to the room with AC/heat and power the essentials of the house.
I converted the generator to also run on propane, for around $150. I have a 100 gallon propane tank I use in my workshop, which I can hook up to the generator if needed.
I've never had to use it.

Total cost, doing the install myself was $1,000 for the generator, $650 for the transfer kit and breaker panel, $150 to convert the generator to dual fuel, $100 for the 100 gallon propane tank.

I use the generator and propane tank for other purposes, the transfer kit I received free for writing a review on it.

We do not suffer outages frequently enough to warrant a large fixed generator. For us, this small and fairly inexpensive option provides piece of mind, and other uses.

Yes, you do have to consider which items you want to power and their totalled wattages (both start-up and continuous wattages).

We've decided to start thinking about 5000 watt portable gasoline models. They're more trouble to run (manual hook-ups & changing required) but less expensive to buy and easier to set up.

However I'm interested in hearing anyone's experiences, even if it's with other models, fuels, fixed systems, etc ....

Yes, heat is most important, and I think (hope) with a wood stove and a good wood pile, we've got that sorted.

But it would be nice to be able to power our (modest-sized) fridge/freezer enough so that we don't lose too much stored food. Also TV and/or radio now and again to hear the latest news of the outage.

To explain my earlier comment. Even based on test runs, pulling out, fueling, and running cables and hooking up my generator, then putting it all away again, is a right royal PITA. I would not want to do so even once every three years, and would recommend finding the money for an installed generator, even a small one.

Yes, what would also be nice is power for the outdoor hotub. Especially when there is a foot of snow outside.

Here in Arizona i don't think any generator is going to power my two 4 tonne HVAC units. So if its 115 degrees outside and the power goes out all you can do is panic

Even though I live in L.A. I had the misfortune of being in North New Jersey for Sandy. In the aftermath of the hurricane, one of the sounds was the generators running. Neighbors were generally allowed to recharge batteries for their mobiles and electric lanterns. Also, if there was room, they would store food in the refrigerators.

One problem that became apparent before too long was that there was a shortage of gasoline since the pumps in many stations were without power. People who had installed natural gas models were not affected. Also, there were some people who still had oil heat and they owned diesel generators. They would run the generators on the "red diesel." [Note: don't even think of running your car on the stuff. Not only is it illegal, the newer "common rail" and emission controlled diesel cars will not be happy at all].

Rather than hooking up the house, many people simply ran long extension cables to run the refrigerator/freezer and to the igniters & fans on the heating systems. For cooking, matches were compensate for no power to the igniters.

Here in L.A. I would not use an installed natural gas generator because a temblor will often break the gas lines. See http://i.ytimg.com/vi/WA1m3UgJ8nU/0.jpg

Despite all the outages we've lived through in CT over the years -- such as the two weeks we were powerless in the cold after the October ice storm four or five years ago -- we've never felt that they occur often enough to warrant a generator. We just pile every comforter in the house on the bed, then all the dogs, and that's it! A battery powered radio/CD player give us updates on the progress of the repairs and we are prone to start a "British invasion" era CD walk down memory lane. I think it helped after the ice storm that I was reading a book about the siege of Stalingrad, which made what we were dealing with seem rather insignificant!

I've a setup like thinbrits - a slightly smaller generator at 7500W but still enough to run the entire house with the exception of the washer/dryer and electric oven (it probably would run them too at a pinch)

You might want to look at something larger than the small portable type if you want to run anything more than your fridge. I got mine after the power was out 6 days straight after Irene - it was a lifesaver. The cost of filling it with gas soon gets old but the propane conversions are cheap and effective. The noise tends to drive you nuts after a while so while it was running we would freeze milk jugs full of water to keep the fridge and freezer cool overnight and turn the generator off to try and get a decent nights kip.

Transfer switch install is the way to go. Hire a pro unless you know exactly what you are doing.

We installed a 'whole house' generator, natural gas powered, after we moved in. A higher one-off cost than other solutions but it works well. If it was just me I'd adopt the 'pile on the blankets' approach but taking the kids into consideration, the possibility of days without power in sub-freezing conditions...it was really a simple decision.

My next door neighbors have one. I'd be happy for you to come and collect it when they are out. It kindly wakes us up in the middle of the night to tell us their power is out.

Absolutely -- it we had children we'd react very differently from the way we do when there's just us to think of.