Picked up my generator and got it all set up .. my neighbor who is a master electrician helped me set it up and put in a ground for me. We fired it up and it starts on the 2nd pull! I connected both greenhouse heating systems to it and it runs like a champ. I'll even be able to connect my UPS that has my computer, monitor and modem on it as well. That's one less worry for me since they are predicting colder than normal and wetter than normal weather for Winter - which means ice storms and snow. It's not nearly as noisy as I though it would be.

Here is what I got:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Wes...

The total came to $640.93 and shipped free to the local Home Depot. The box it came in fit easily into my small station wagon.



I also purchased a rechargeable LED Lantern that comes on when the power goes out:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0057LZHAA/

And an alarm that goes off when the power goes off.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9BF70/

Sounds like you are all set!

Yep! I'm ready .. I'm hoping it will guarantee I'll never have to use it. My Dad who lives in Ft. Lauderdale got a whole house generator when Hurricane Wilma in 2005 knocked out the power for a week. Since then, hurricanes have steered clear of Ft. Lauderdale.

Yay! No more worries!!

Xeramtheum said:Yep! I'm ready .. I'm hoping it will guarantee I'll never have to use it. My Dad who lives in Ft. Lauderdale got a whole house generator when Hurricane Wilma in 2005 knocked out the power for a week. Since then, hurricanes have steered clear of Ft. Lauderdale.

Too funny! The same thing with my boss. He has never lost power since he had a whole house generator installed! He said it was the best insurance ever

Lol .. it is indeed!

Great insurance for sure!
I am glad that you have it.

Thanks! It's really taken a weight off my mind .. the Winter forecast is looking so bleak I have been very worried. We had an ice storm last February and the power went off in the day time - thankfully the temps in the greenhouse never got below 35°. I did have two generators I rented and didn't have to use them.

Now I need to do practice runs in the middle of the night so I'm not fumbling around if the need arises to start it up.

Glad to hear your ready. I've been undecided between a gen, and a snow blower. The snow we got before Thanksgiving got me off the fence. I did minimal shoveling and payed the price. Since I had my back fused last Veterans Day, I can't do it anymore. I'm not too worried about the GH. My LP heater is designed to work without power and we have the wood/coal stove in the house, so the gen. will wait till next year. Digging in the beds and garden does not seem so bad in comparison, I guess since it's a smaller spade and you can set the pace and size of the load.

Oh bummer about your back .. I have a friend with a bad back and he says the constant pain just wears you down.

Anne, it sounds to me like you have your priorities just right -- greenhouses, and computer ! (what more do we need?) (well, in my case I guess I might have to say the freezer in the summer, and the furnace in the winter...)

Ouch, Ric -- so you got the snowblower, then? I have no idea what we'd do without ours, DH even runs it up onto the deck to get the snow off there when there's too much to easily push off with the shovel.

Lol Sandy, I have a kerosene heater which can get living room and computer room in the upper 80's without hitch. I only do that occasionally though - when I'm just cold to the bone .. white kerosene costs almost 5 dollars a gallon.