Generator: To buy or not to buy....

[ZMAN]

We had a huge mess here in western new york in October with an odd snow storm that brought down the trees and the lines. People lost power for a few days up to 2 weeks. We lucked out and did not lose power. Others were flooded out to boot when their basements flooded with the loss of the sump pump. I did the research and went with a 15 KW Briggs and Stratton whole house generator. I did not have any place to put a portable generator or store more gas (It is tough enough to store my little 2 stroke snow blower and gas). Briggs was very responsive when I called them. Their vendor was on time as well. The whole deal was $8,700 with a 3 year contract for maintenance. Maintenance is $200 per year but I think I can sort that out myself when the contract is over. The heart of the operation is a 960 cc air cooled v-twin, 30 horsepower engine. The whole power unit weighs 600 pounds. The transfer switching installed inside next to the electrical service looks very sturdy as well. It may have been overkill but it gives us some piece of mind.