Not gardening but homeowners have discussed here before.
Finally had it with power company and wife agrees we need generator.
Home Depot and Lowes here seem to have very limited choices.
Question to group is who is good reliable mail order supplier that they
have dealt with?

http://www.northerntool.com/

Thanks. They send their catalog but I don't keep it. Should be
reliable.
Frank

Before you buy that generator you want to do some more research. The
generators at home depot and lowes are more for contractors, the type
that you put a few gallons of gas into and crack it up like a
lawnmower. You plug them into an outside wall plug and that supplies
electricity.

That type of generator is not good for high-tech equipment. When we
owned a weekly newspaper in a mountain community we did some heavy
research on generators to see what we could do about more reliable
power. The electricity that comes out of the little generators
fluctuate so much that they can actually damage your computers, stereo
and tv.

What you want to look for are the big generators that will connect
directly to the box that has your main power switch. The bigger
generators will run off your natural gas supply so you don't have to be
sure that you have that 5 gallon gas tank in your garage.
The bigger generators are actually quieter than the little ones.

Yes, the big ones cost a lot, but they add value to your home. The
little ones will probably cause you more hassle by tripping your
breakers.

We actually sold our house before we bought the bigger generator but
our neighbor had one that worked really well.

Here's the one he bought,
http://www.coloradostandby.com/catal...2c7e56422adbe3
I don't know where he bought it and I now live in a new state, so I
can't readilyask him. You need to shop around for the right value for
you. But that generator was so quiet that the only way we knew he was
using it was because our power was off. haha.

John Patrick,
http://birdoasis.com

"Bird Oasis" wrote in message
ups.com...
Before you buy that generator you want to do some more research.
The
generators at home depot and lowes are more for contractors, the
type
that you put a few gallons of gas into and crack it up like a
lawnmower. You plug them into an outside wall plug and that
supplies
electricity.

Speak for your local stores maybe, but both Lowe's and Home Depot have
whole house permanent mount generators that run on propane and some
that run on diesel. Not saying they have the best pricing, but they
are available locally.

Tom J

After the third power failure in a week, I bought a generator at Home
Depot. I discussed with local lawn mower shop that deals in Hondas,
very expensive, and they said Sears and Home Depot generators with
actual Generac generator parts were best. Unit is Briggs and Stratton
with Generac generator. Now I'm looking into installation. Noise not
a problem as guy across the street has noisy one and next door neighbor
just bought a Coleman (which mower shop says are junk). We don't have
gas service so I'll be using gasoline. Main need for well, furnace and
freezers so I'll need to have it hooked into home power supply.

Appreciate comments on sensitive electronics. My computers are on surge
protectors and APC's. All others, microwave, TV's etc, are on surge
protectors. Over thirty years in this house, worse case was 3 days
with no power. Correspondent on the Red Neck Riveria, where power can
be out for weeks, got whole house gas system. Those long gas lines
after the hurricanes, are unfortunate folk trying to buy gasoline for
their generators and pumps are not in service.

Frank