Well, like many things in life, we got what we paid for. It cost us quite a bit to have a Generac generator installed at our rural south Salem house last March, as I described in "We get a Generac whole house generator after the ice storm trauma."
The ice storm was in February 2021, so we didn't exactly jump into the Generac decision, since it took us two years to decide on a generator upgrade from our 7,000 watt Honda generator that was a lot better than nothing, yet not nearly as powerful and convenient as the 24,000 watt Generac.
I'd told Jeff, a Northside Electric guy who did the final electrical panel work and educated us about the Generac operates, that after getting this pricey device installed, my magical thinking leads me to believe that our power will never go off again. His right-on reply: "So get some life insurance and you'll never die."
Jeff was right. I'll die even if I get life insurance, and last night the power went off at our house for the first time since Genie, as I now fondly call our generator, was on the job.
She, or maybe he, I don't know how to tell the sex of generators, performed great. As luck would have it, I was taking a hot bath when the bathroom lights went out and I found myself taking a bath in the dark. For a few seconds I wondered if Genie would live up to her nickname.
She did. The Generac automatically turned on after it sensed the power outage, which probably was related to high wind in our area.
After so many years (we've lived here since 1990, which means we've endured a lot of outages) of needing to wheel a generator from our garage into the carport, drag a heavy cable from the garage to the side of our house where the cable connected to a transfer panel in our utility room, make sure there was enough gas and oil in the generator, and start it, then turn it off when we went to bed, it was great to do absolutely nothing after our power went off.
Plus, before we had to start a fire in our wood stove to keep the house warm, and we didn't have hot water.
Now the Generac keeps almost everything in our house on, including our main heat pump (but not the heat strips, which use too much power) and hot water heater. The only things that aren't powered by Genie are the heat pump for our "apartment" area and a tankless hot water heater in that area.
I sleep in the apartment bedroom, so it got kind of cold during the night. But having all the lights work and running water available all night in the bathroom (we have a well) was way better than dealing with battery powered lanterns and a flashlight, as I did in our pre-Generac days.
Fortunately, PGE restored our neighborhood's power this morning, so the outage lasted about 12 hours. It was a good initial test of Genie. We started off with our propane supply at about 73% full, though I'm not absolutely sure about that figure. This morning the gauge was at 70%. So that's not bad, since the Generac was on all night until the power was back on.
Anyway, a Generac or similar whole house generator is something to consider if you have a need for one. Today I chatted during my teeth cleaning with the dental hygienist. She lives in Salem proper and said a neighbor has a Generac because one of the family members has a medical condition that requires a device powered by electricity.
Yes, it's fairly noisy, so if you live in a city your neighbors may not appreciate the Generac when its running. However, if you invite them over to enjoy your lights, warmth, and hot water during a power outage, I predict that all will be forgiven.
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