Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Your thoughts/expertise on emergency generator setup

I decided to do it right, so I bought a dedicated, free standing generator that would supply the needed power in case of a power outage that would allow me to continue on as if no outage occurred.

I found this 10,000 watt Generac on Craigslist, and it had never been out of the crate. The guy I got it from had 2 breaker boxes along with the generator at the same cost. I bought it for $1,100.00, a significant savings.

Watts are one thing, amps are another. This generator is capable of around 10,000 watts at peak and 50 amps. It will generate at a continuous rate of about 9,000 watts on natural gas. I would suggest you don't get anything under 50 amps of service.

Everyone you will talk to you will try to convince you to go cheap and simple. That will work for a camper, but your house is much different. Ask anyone that has been without power for more that 24 hours.

I went natural gas because your fuel source will outlast a propane tank. There are those that say natural gas won't work without power, but I checked with the gas company and they said their gas pumps run on natural gas and will continue to deliver natural gas for a long time.

Next, you want tp have a professional electrician hook everything to your breaker box. I got a commercial electrical contractor to hook everything up with the second breaker box in the garage and it is wired from that box to the breaker box in the house. When the power goes out, the generator will sense that and throw a switch that shuts of the power from the power company and protects the lineman from getting electrocuted if they are working on the line to get power restored.

Whenever there is a power outage, I get the pleasure of turning all my lights on in the house and while the neighborhood is dark, they can see I still have power. It doesn't happen often, but if it does, I keep on doing everything as normal. Anything less is just that, less. Don't fall for the cheaper, get by attitude. Do it once and do it right...