How to Buy a Generator

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

21 Dec 2008 07:39 AM

With snow and ice blanketing or threatening to blanket most of the country, it is important for home owners to be prepared. Being without power can mean living with out electricity, water and heat, and this could be deadly in some cases.

One purchase that may be a good investment, depending on where you live, is a private generator that can replace your source of electricity when your power fails.

There are different types of generators, from small portable ones for a few essential services to large whole home ones that automatically switch over in the event of a power outage. Which one you choose will depend on what your needs are and what you have to spend in your budget.

The first thing you need to do is to determine the amount of electricity you will need in the event of a power outage. You can do this by first determining what you want to run and then adding up the wattage requirements.

In our home, for example, we want to be able to run the furnace for heat, the water pump for water, and the refrigerator and the upright freezer to prevent food storage. For cooking, we can either cook in our fireplace, use a gas camping stove, or unplug the refrigerator and plug in the microwave for a few minutes to heat a meal. We can go without lights, using flashlights and a camping lantern as needed. We can also go without the television, the computer and other electronics for the short term. Our phone service has its own short-term backup system.

Your needs may be different, but keep in mind that the more you want to run, the more your cost will be.

Check back again alter, when I talk about how to calculate the wattage needed and the different fuel sources for generators.

Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now managing relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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