Comments | ocicat: For those who know anything about them

ocicat

For those who know anything about them

Oct 13, 2009 19:17

What's the best way to go about purchasing a generator?

I'm not really that informed on the subject, but it seems like a good idea to pursue...

Comments 6

lisatheriveter October 14 2009, 02:56:00 UTC

For that matter, I'm very interested in what you find out. I can tell you that Disambiguation House has a particular circuit wired from the cabin to the outbuilding that houses the generator. When the power goes out, you go out and start the genny and plug it into socket, and poof! Power returns to the cabin.

deltablack October 14 2009, 03:47:18 UTC

If you want it to be wired into the house i would call around to 2-3 different electricians and ask them. they should have suppliers. this will give you a good pool to compare the estimates and they can do the wiring for you.
happy hunting

circle23 October 14 2009, 15:35:31 UTC

obviously the box stores will most likely have the best prices (lowes, home depot) check consumer reports for reviews too

aelius27 October 14 2009, 18:18:19 UTC

The following all presumes you are looking for a gasoline consuming, portable generator. There are other options, but they are not in the same price range ( ... )

aelius27 October 14 2009, 21:40:01 UTC

I would also recommend doing a little research on how much fuel you can store, and what the requirements are for your area. I would imagine you guys have more freedom than we do, but better safe than sorry.

flasher702 October 15 2009, 01:12:45 UTC

Figuring out the capacity and application (portable? tow-behind? fixed?) you want, then freaking out about the price and revising your desired capacity downward, would be the first step. For portables and tow-behinds pawn shops and auctions are your friend.

But really what you ought to do for maximal geek cred: mod your Prius. It's a giant generator already. Actually seems like all you have to do is attach some beefy cables to the right spot for an inverter to draw from the battery pack and turn turn the car on and it turns on and off to maintain the battery charge for you.
http://thecollegedriver.com/posts/219-Prius-Used-as-an-Emergency-Generator
http://priups.com/misc/r3x-photoessay/index.html
http://www.priups.com/connections/issue-list.htm