Yesterday morning somebody had an offer up at the post office: Troy-Built 5500-watt generator, Briggs & Stratton motor, six years old, hardly used, $350.<\/p>\n
I’m not buying this generator because it doesn’t have an electronic start. I know from daily experience at the Desert Hermitage that if my life depended on successfully cord-starting a generator, they’d soon find my mouldering bones in the sand, cord still grasped in my skeletal fingers. (I have no problem starting a lawn mower, but that generator we had for a while: &^%$#@!) Fortunately, we mostly had electric starters.<\/p>\n
Other than at the Hermitage, where a generator was a life essential and the ones we had were shared, I’ve never put a priority on owning one. It’s an expensive item that I couldn’t justify on my budget or for my needs.<\/p>\n
But now I’ve got a freezer full of meat. So talk to me about generators, people.<\/p>\n
I want a medium-sized one (3000-5500 watts) primarily for running appliances during short-term outages — keep the freezer frozen and the fridge refrigerated a few hours a day, maybe run a sump pump (though so far my basement is remarkably dry for an area where the water table is about two inches below ground).<\/p>\n
But it must<\/i> have an electric start. Or somebody will have to persuade me that “even a girl” can pull the cord on their favored model.<\/p>\n
Problem is, it’s hard to find an affordable (for me) electric-start generator. <\/p>\n
Electric Generators Direct<\/a> has an excellent walk-through-the-process of finding a generator that’s right for your needs. Very helpful site (don’t know about their prices or quality; have never bought from them). But the “walk” to an electric-start generator was a walk into sticker shock — and for the most part into generators heftier than my needs.<\/p>\n Amazon has less expensive electric-start generators<\/a>, but I’m not seeing solid old brand names connected with those budget prices, of course. This Champion<\/a> and this Briggs & Stratton<\/a> seem like very good buys as far as bigger generators go. But they’re definitely overkill for my anticipated needs.<\/p>\n So what do you more experienced people think?<\/p>\n —–<\/p>\n I’m not done with the Preparedness Priorities series yet. Should have an installment later this week on water storage. And am talking with a potential guest blogger about an installment on first aid and medical (that one might take a while to appear). In fact, I’d consider a generator post part of that series, only in this case you guys get to dispense all<\/i>, not just your usual share, of the wisdom. \ud83d\ude42 <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday morning somebody had an offer up at the post office: Troy-Built 5500-watt generator, Briggs & Stratton motor, six years old, hardly used, $350. I’m not buying this generator because it doesn’t have an electronic start. I know from daily experience at the Desert Hermitage that if my life depended on successfully cord-starting a generator, they’d soon find my mouldering bones in the sand, cord still grasped in my skeletal fingers. (I have no problem starting a lawn mower, but that generator we had for a while: &^%$#@!) Fortunately, we mostly had electric starters. Other than at the Hermitage, where…<\/p>\n