Home Improvement News Bureau

Portable Power Prevents Problems

How to Pick the Perfect Generator for Your Home

MONEY PIT NEWSBUREAU – August 14, 2003:  As Americans recover from the largest single power blackout in our nation’s history, many are taking steps to prepare themselves for future power problems.

During the blackout, more than 50 million people were without power.  Homeowners flocked to local stores to purchase a portable generator, only to stand in long lines or find empty shelves.

“This wasn’t the first, and definitely won’t be the last power outage,” warns Vijay Vaitheeswaran, Energy Correspondent for The Economist and author of Power to the People, a new book summarizing the problems with America’s electrical system.

According to Vaitheeswaran, the best time to purchase a generator is between outages, when supplies are plentiful and prices are reasonable.

Nationally syndicated home improvement radio host Tom Kraeutler agrees.  “Price gouging is common in a crisis,” he said.  “But between outages, finding a good selection of generators at reasonable prices is easy.”

Kraeutler, who hosts the popular Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show, says selecting the perfect generator for home is easy with these three tips:

Start Your Engine
A generator, in its most basic form, is just an engine and an alternator.

Your first step in picking the perfect generator is to simply determine if you need a do-it-yourself or professional-grade engine.  This will help you avoid the most common pitfall when purchasing a generator for home use.

While it sounds simple enough, novice shoppers often skip this step, warns Kraeutler.  "Don't get caught up in the hype.  Many customers jump into the various bells and whistles and lose sight of what they truly need," he said.

Instead of purchasing a professional grade generator with unneeded features , Kraeutler recommends getting a do-it-yourself model and reinvesting the savings into a more powerful engine.

How Much Juice to Produce?
According to Jon Hoch, founder of ElectricGeneratorsDirect.com, an online generator superstore, you need to keep your eyes on two numbers - rated and surge wattage.

Rated watts are the amount of electricity your appliance needs to keep it running.

Surge watts are the amount of electricity your appliance needs to start its motor.  For example, a refrigerator requires 500 watts to run, but it needs 1,000-2,000 watts just to get its motor started.

Hoch recommends at least 5,000 rated watts to power the basic “survival appliances”, such as a refrigerator, sump pump, freezer, television and lights.  To power more things simply get a bigger generator.

To calculate your exact wattage requirements, use the online wattage calculator at www.powerprotection.org.

Don’t Forget About Fuel
Hoch also recommends paying close attention the size of the fuel tank for two reasons.

First, gas stations rely on electricity to operate their pumps.  During a wide spread outage, your generator could be useless if you can’t pump any replacement fuel.

“To prevent the gas from going stale, simply add fuel stabilizer and store the gas in canisters, not inside the fuel tank,” says Hoch. “Just add the gas when you need power to ensure your generator will start.”

Secondly, Hoch says it’s hazardous to add fuel to a running generator.  He recommends a generator with at least a five-gallon gas tank, which will help generate 10 hours of electricity.

“This blackout was an important wake-up call for Americans,” says Kraeutler.  “Our electric grid is a house of cards.  Don’t wait for the next outage to find your house in the dark.”

For more tips on how to safely use a portable electric generator, visit www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com.

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