Sorry DP, but I don't like doing anything halfassed.
Must be my military training.

i'd recommend staying away from any of the "unknown" brands -- they're all made in china, pop up every fall, and by the next windy season(when the owners have left them out in the weather and the stator corrodes) surprise, parts are no longer available!

honda and yamaha are the only brands i'd consider. generac might have a big name but their portable household generators are farmed out to china and are really cheaply made.

Lots of good feedback. Thanks guys.

I'm not gonna' go the 8 KW, let alone 10 or 12 KW route, because this is only for emergency use application, and I have no need or interest in fully powering my house for up to a week if the power is out that long (only once in recent years). I also don't want to have to find storage space for a huge generator. Something that tucks away in the corner of the garage would be nice.

I installed a Fireplace extraordinaire that has a blower fan, and it heats the living area really well. So I don't need to power the heat pump that is the main heating system of my house. I think my emergency electric load is pretty small, with the main driver being the momentary surge from the refrigerator and freezer. And my freezer is just a dinky under counter thing, and I'm considering replacing it with a new energy efficient one, but still quite small. During an emergency we can cook with the Coleman stove out on the deck and not use the electric kitchen stove.

It sure is an interesting contrast between the Honda type generators that are expensive per KW and other brands that are all under $1,000 for up to 5.5 KW. Some of those have Briggs & Stratton while others have Chinese gas motors. Generac gets good reviews for performance, but is really noisy, along with Powermate and others. My wife and I really appreciate quiet, so we might spend the extra bucks on a Honda, but haven't decided yet.

Thanks again folks!

Sg

My Yamaha 3000ISEB & the wood stove gets us along just fine. I like the 20/15 amp outlets on it, one to the Refrig and the other to power lights, TV, Internet, etc.

The reason my little Honda cost $800 eight years ago is that I can fire it up and standing right next to it you can barely hear it...purrs. My Powermate can knock the paint off a wall at 40 feet with all the noise it makes.

Fish on...

Todd

So what kind of stove did you buy Salmo?

I picked up an Avalon Ranier 90 through Addicted last year and I'm in love with it right now...actually since the day I put it in.

True dat...just noting why the Honda cost so much more than the Powermate.

Fish on...

Todd

I'm wondering why y'all are so scared of the dark?

Sky-guy,

I have a Fireplace Extraordinaire. It looks like a regular fireplace with glass doors that are "almost" airtight. It pulls in outside air for combustion, and it has an adjustable speed blower fan that turns on automatically when the firebox heats up to 600*. So it puts out more than enough to heat my 1275 sq. ft. main floor, and I don't really want to heat the master bedroom anyway. The rest of the main floor is one big open area for entry, kitchen, living, dining, home office. The basement really isn't an issue; the hot water floor heat I have down there never turned on once last winter except when I turned the thermostat high enough to test it out. I'm gonna' unplug that water heater and stop paying to heat water that just sits on standby all year. We just use the basement for storage and laundry room and could turn the heat on for the guest bedrooms if a guest wanted more heat.

Chuck,

Thanks for that info! Interesting range of prices; I may have to bypass the local dealer if I get a Honda.

Stlhead,

Not skeered of the dark. Just don't want the food in the fridge and freezer to spoil if the power is out for more than a couple days.

Sg

Speedway sales is the bonb. I bought a Toro mower from them a couple years ago. They were almost $200 cheaper than anyone in Pierce County, had it in stock, and there was no shipping or tax. It was here within a week.

As long as we're spending Salmo's money, this looks like the perfect survival tool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNBCzfxiOMQ

http://www.emerson2-71gm.com/Gensets.html

One of these should get the job done.

Thanks Chuck, and DBA for vouching for Speedway. Can't beat their deals. Now just gotta' decide which one to get. Elec. start or manual recoil. Super quiet or industrial. Decisions. Looks like the cost difference between Speedway and another supplier will cover the cost of the new tires I needed to buy for my car.

Sg

Electric start is great BUT remember there is a battery involved that has to be maintained. I don't know how much you plan to use this Salmo but a float charger should also be on your mind if you go with electric start.

saw this one on CL

http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/tls/2708239114.html

OK Chuck....you just come on over in the dead of Winter and fire my generator up by pulling on the cord. (Just messin with you, kinda) Things don't fire up so good when the air is freezing cold. Electric start is the only way to go.

Can of starting fluid or WD40 makes them start pretty easy.

Size matters as well. Oil in the crankcase isn't very fluid when cold. I start mine regularly (yesterday was a power outage, for example) and I'm sure I wouldn't have any trouble firing it up in the Summer by using the cord.....but Winter....ugh....much easier to push a button.

Ok wait, you're talking about a SHTF scenario--

A real SHTF scenario, FUGGITABOUTIT! Your run outta gas in a few days anyway.

If you really wanna prep for an extended --like forever--outage, you need self-sufficiency provided by either solar, wind or private hydro, which is damn near impossible without major investment in private infrastructure and ownership of huge tracts of...land. It's be swell if we were all plantation owners with self-operating farms with slaves, stills and mills, but really, even SHTF, the Cap'n himself Dogfish would be fuct after a month or four off the grid. Once the gas goes, Gens are just big anchors.

Sg,

What ever you choose, make sure you calculate your load and add 25% safety margin. For every generator out there, you need to derate them about 20% for constant load rating. So, if you bought a 1000 watt generator, you really want to run about 800 Watts continuously to keep the generator happy for a extended periods of time.

If you're powering a couple freezers and refrigerators, I would recommend something in the range of 3,000-5,000 watts. If you get a lot of power outages up there, definitely error on bigger, you'll be happy you did.