No, but I live in an apartment. My dad has one at his house, which he only got about 10 years ago.
Yep. It makes the power outages go away.
Yes. And a wood burning furnace syatem/fireplaces. And solar panels.
Nope, but I would love to have one. Our power dosent go out often, but it dosent go out rarely either.
Yes, we have a 22 kW generator. I live in a relatively rural area and all the lines are above ground so unfortunately we lose power a couple times per year – though usually only for a couple hours
Yes, normal in Florida I was out of power for 16 days after Ian.
I don’t, but my landlord/his wife, their adult sons, and I all live in the same building and he has a couple.
Yes, the prior owner of our house had a whole home generator installed.
Yes. Dual fuel gasoline and propane 3800 watt. Enough to run a few things but not the whole house.
Namely the fridge in the summer and the natural gas fired furnace blower in the winter
No, I live in a city and rarely experience power outages.
Yes, I bought one when we had a big ice storm a few years ago that shut my power off for 3 days. It can run on gas propane or natural gas and has enough power to run everything except my heat pump.
No need. All the power lines are underground in my area. We have brief outages during storms once every few years, maybe five minutes or less. In the last 15 years we’ve had *one* outage that lasted several hours (over three, less than four) when a substation blew up relatively nearby. It was night, it was cold, and we ended up using the fireplace to keep cozy until they fixed it.
If you don’t live in hurricane territory, in a very rural area, or in a place with poor infrastructure, the power grid is pretty reliable. One source I just googled says that 20 years ago <1% of US homes had a generator, now it’s about 6%.
Yes, but only because it came with the house when we bought it. The previous owners were in their 90s and I think their kids made them get one and since it’s northern NY with cold winters. In the 8 years we have lived here, it’s probably ran for 4-5 hrs in total other than the weekly maintenence runs.
No, but I live in an area with a mild climate, and the power is mostly buried, so we don’t get outages often, and when we do, they’re fixed pretty quickly.
Yes. We got two portables and gma has a generac ran off propane. Also can use the welder in a tight spot if we had too.
No, I don’t lose power often or long enough to necessitate owning one.
The longest I’ve ever lost power was overnight, just under 24 hours.
The last time I lost power was for about 5 minutes during a bad storm.
I have a big portable power station that’s fully charged. I mostly use it for camping. But I have it in case my power goes out.
No, and I don’t know anybody who does.
No. Where I live, power lines are mostly underground, so longer outages due to trees falling on lines during windstorms or power lines falling due to ice storms are very rare. A “long” outage for us is maybe 4 hours or so and is usually caused by construction digging up a line or a squirrel popping a fuse, so the system can just be rerouted to bring power in from another direction to restore service until the fault is fixed. (Lots of loops and redundancy in well-designed power grids.)
I have about 15 power banks for devices that are usually mostly charged, and a emergency battery that can run a couple of lamps or whatever, and a solar panel that can charge things (and a car). So I could easily go a couple of days. The stovetop and hot water heater are gas and work without power. The only issue would be food in the fridges, so I’d put it in coolers with ice if necessary.
No. My family never did and I don’t know but I’ve never lived in a place where the power was out long enough for it to be much of a problem.
We have one, but it’s *long* dead. The house’s position close to the bottom of a hill (with stairs & a ramp) combined with the utility poles and wires running between the house and hill make getting the old one out and a new one in somewhat impractical.
When my husband and I bought our house my mil insisted on buying us a Generac natural gas generator that kicks in automatically when the power goes out. Extremely unexpected and extremely appreciated.
No. Knock on wood, we rarely lose power. For anyone looking for a place to live, try to find one without overhead lines. Neighborhoods in our region with overhead lines lose power much more often.
Yes, but I live in Alaska outside the city, so blizzards can knock my power out easily. It’s not a whole-house generator though, so I have to drag extension cords through the house and rotate the fridge and things on it
I live in the mountains of Tennessee. Helene put the fear of God in us. We just got a standby generator installed. It was expensive. IDK how much yet as we haven’t gotten the bills from the electrician and the propane company. It will automatically kick in, even if we’re not here, and power the well pump, fridge, freezes and furnace as well as everything else. Not only will we be safe and comfortable but we can also help our neighbors with water, showers and meals if they need it.
No but this recent winter storm has convinced me to go ahead and spend the money. I’m gonna be looking into a whole home generator this spring
As a family yeah. Tornado alley we loose power at least once a year. Most the time it’s only a few minutes or an hour but it can be a couple days in some places.
No, but I do have a battery.
I don’t.
My wife keeps saying that we should get one, but it feels pointless to me. We have a fireplace if the power goes out in the winter (and it has, we were fine) and windows if it goes out in the summer. We have plenty of candles, oil lamps and flashlights for light. The one and only concern that I have is for the refrigerator and the chest freezer, but they can go a day without power so long as they are opened at minimum and if it is winter we can just put the food outside in a worst case scenario.
No but I’m getting one in the Spring. My house is on an electric powered well so drinking water, showers, toilets, etc. all need electricity to run. Additionally I am in a wet area and no power means no sump pumps which means wet basement (which is finished so it would be an expensive fix).
Yep. They’re pretty cheap to get secondhand, and you can buy them either whole (engine and electrical generation unit) or just driven generators (just the electrical generation unit without a motor to drive it) and hook up your own engine.
My folks have one that runs on the PTO shaft off the tractor.
I live in an apartment but I have one too, 1960s model still running the original generator unit but with a harbor freight engine from like three years ago.
Nope. I’ve thought about it because my house is very old as is the grid here but after 8 years I haven’t lost power yet. It doesn’t justify the costs.
Live in an apartment now, but grew up in an area with frequent outages, but not long ones. Never had one and only a couple houses on my street did. Just made do with lanterns, candles, and flashlights.
Yep.
Used it once in a decade.
No. I have survived 63 years without one. 🤷♂️
No, but it is extremely rare for our power to go out. I can’t actually remember the last time it went out. A few years ago, for a couple hours I think.
No, not for power outages. But I have 3 generators for various different recreational activities.
Could’ve used in power outages I guess. But those are like once or twice a decade rare.
Not specifically for outages, but I have a 32 foot rv with a generator I can tie into my home system.
No
I have a whole home generator. But only because it came with the house when I bought it. I would not have bought one otherwise. I would own a portable generator if I didn’t have this though.
No, but I have whole-house batteries and solar panels, and a (very large) portable power station that can run electric appliances.
The panels and batteries are primarily to reduce my energy costs, but they do work off-grid for power outages.
No, but we have a battery backup for our gas fireplace so we still have heat if the power goes out.
Yes, but the refrigerator doesn’t work with the generator.
Yes, a whole home generator. When we moved here the neighbors all said the last big storm had left them without power for 7 days and at the time we had a 2 year old. It has saved us countless times.
Yes but I only use it if there’s an extended outage like after a hurricane. I was without power for 10 days after hurricane Ida and the heat index was over 110°F every day. I just had a window unit in my bedroom and ran that along with my fridge and chest freezer.
If the power is out for part of a day I’m not bothering.
It depends on where you are and how stable your power is.
I live in the middle of town. In 25 years, I’ve had less than 5 hours of power outages. Total. What do I need a generator for? The collapse of civilization? Zombies?
My mom lived in a house in the woods, surrounded by trees.
The power company, being cheapies, refused to bury the power lines.
Every winter the power went out. Not once a year. Multiple times. For hours or even days.
Couldn’t get a whole house generator fast enough.
Yes. Cheaper than losing my freezer full of meat and not to mention keeping my family comfortable during an outage
47 comments
No, but I live in an apartment. My dad has one at his house, which he only got about 10 years ago.
Yep. It makes the power outages go away.
Yes. And a wood burning furnace syatem/fireplaces. And solar panels.
Nope, but I would love to have one. Our power dosent go out often, but it dosent go out rarely either.
Yes, we have a 22 kW generator. I live in a relatively rural area and all the lines are above ground so unfortunately we lose power a couple times per year – though usually only for a couple hours
Yes, normal in Florida I was out of power for 16 days after Ian.
I don’t, but my landlord/his wife, their adult sons, and I all live in the same building and he has a couple.
Yes, the prior owner of our house had a whole home generator installed.
Yes. Dual fuel gasoline and propane 3800 watt. Enough to run a few things but not the whole house.
Namely the fridge in the summer and the natural gas fired furnace blower in the winter
No, I live in a city and rarely experience power outages.
Yes, I bought one when we had a big ice storm a few years ago that shut my power off for 3 days. It can run on gas propane or natural gas and has enough power to run everything except my heat pump.
No need. All the power lines are underground in my area. We have brief outages during storms once every few years, maybe five minutes or less. In the last 15 years we’ve had *one* outage that lasted several hours (over three, less than four) when a substation blew up relatively nearby. It was night, it was cold, and we ended up using the fireplace to keep cozy until they fixed it.
If you don’t live in hurricane territory, in a very rural area, or in a place with poor infrastructure, the power grid is pretty reliable. One source I just googled says that 20 years ago <1% of US homes had a generator, now it’s about 6%.
Yes, but only because it came with the house when we bought it. The previous owners were in their 90s and I think their kids made them get one and since it’s northern NY with cold winters. In the 8 years we have lived here, it’s probably ran for 4-5 hrs in total other than the weekly maintenence runs.
No, but I live in an area with a mild climate, and the power is mostly buried, so we don’t get outages often, and when we do, they’re fixed pretty quickly.
Yes. We got two portables and gma has a generac ran off propane. Also can use the welder in a tight spot if we had too.
No, I don’t lose power often or long enough to necessitate owning one.
The longest I’ve ever lost power was overnight, just under 24 hours.
The last time I lost power was for about 5 minutes during a bad storm.
I have a big portable power station that’s fully charged. I mostly use it for camping. But I have it in case my power goes out.
No, and I don’t know anybody who does.
No. Where I live, power lines are mostly underground, so longer outages due to trees falling on lines during windstorms or power lines falling due to ice storms are very rare. A “long” outage for us is maybe 4 hours or so and is usually caused by construction digging up a line or a squirrel popping a fuse, so the system can just be rerouted to bring power in from another direction to restore service until the fault is fixed. (Lots of loops and redundancy in well-designed power grids.)
I have about 15 power banks for devices that are usually mostly charged, and a emergency battery that can run a couple of lamps or whatever, and a solar panel that can charge things (and a car). So I could easily go a couple of days. The stovetop and hot water heater are gas and work without power. The only issue would be food in the fridges, so I’d put it in coolers with ice if necessary.
No. My family never did and I don’t know but I’ve never lived in a place where the power was out long enough for it to be much of a problem.
We have one, but it’s *long* dead. The house’s position close to the bottom of a hill (with stairs & a ramp) combined with the utility poles and wires running between the house and hill make getting the old one out and a new one in somewhat impractical.
When my husband and I bought our house my mil insisted on buying us a Generac natural gas generator that kicks in automatically when the power goes out. Extremely unexpected and extremely appreciated.
No. Knock on wood, we rarely lose power. For anyone looking for a place to live, try to find one without overhead lines. Neighborhoods in our region with overhead lines lose power much more often.
Yes, but I live in Alaska outside the city, so blizzards can knock my power out easily. It’s not a whole-house generator though, so I have to drag extension cords through the house and rotate the fridge and things on it
I live in the mountains of Tennessee. Helene put the fear of God in us. We just got a standby generator installed. It was expensive. IDK how much yet as we haven’t gotten the bills from the electrician and the propane company. It will automatically kick in, even if we’re not here, and power the well pump, fridge, freezes and furnace as well as everything else. Not only will we be safe and comfortable but we can also help our neighbors with water, showers and meals if they need it.
No but this recent winter storm has convinced me to go ahead and spend the money. I’m gonna be looking into a whole home generator this spring
As a family yeah. Tornado alley we loose power at least once a year. Most the time it’s only a few minutes or an hour but it can be a couple days in some places.
No, but I do have a battery.
I don’t.
My wife keeps saying that we should get one, but it feels pointless to me. We have a fireplace if the power goes out in the winter (and it has, we were fine) and windows if it goes out in the summer. We have plenty of candles, oil lamps and flashlights for light. The one and only concern that I have is for the refrigerator and the chest freezer, but they can go a day without power so long as they are opened at minimum and if it is winter we can just put the food outside in a worst case scenario.
No but I’m getting one in the Spring. My house is on an electric powered well so drinking water, showers, toilets, etc. all need electricity to run. Additionally I am in a wet area and no power means no sump pumps which means wet basement (which is finished so it would be an expensive fix).
Yep. They’re pretty cheap to get secondhand, and you can buy them either whole (engine and electrical generation unit) or just driven generators (just the electrical generation unit without a motor to drive it) and hook up your own engine.
My folks have one that runs on the PTO shaft off the tractor.
I live in an apartment but I have one too, 1960s model still running the original generator unit but with a harbor freight engine from like three years ago.
Nope. I’ve thought about it because my house is very old as is the grid here but after 8 years I haven’t lost power yet. It doesn’t justify the costs.
Live in an apartment now, but grew up in an area with frequent outages, but not long ones. Never had one and only a couple houses on my street did. Just made do with lanterns, candles, and flashlights.
Yep.
Used it once in a decade.
No. I have survived 63 years without one. 🤷♂️
No, but it is extremely rare for our power to go out. I can’t actually remember the last time it went out. A few years ago, for a couple hours I think.
No, not for power outages. But I have 3 generators for various different recreational activities.
Could’ve used in power outages I guess. But those are like once or twice a decade rare.
Not specifically for outages, but I have a 32 foot rv with a generator I can tie into my home system.
No
I have a whole home generator. But only because it came with the house when I bought it. I would not have bought one otherwise. I would own a portable generator if I didn’t have this though.
No, but I have whole-house batteries and solar panels, and a (very large) portable power station that can run electric appliances.
The panels and batteries are primarily to reduce my energy costs, but they do work off-grid for power outages.
No, but we have a battery backup for our gas fireplace so we still have heat if the power goes out.
Yes, but the refrigerator doesn’t work with the generator.
Yes, a whole home generator. When we moved here the neighbors all said the last big storm had left them without power for 7 days and at the time we had a 2 year old. It has saved us countless times.
Yes but I only use it if there’s an extended outage like after a hurricane. I was without power for 10 days after hurricane Ida and the heat index was over 110°F every day. I just had a window unit in my bedroom and ran that along with my fridge and chest freezer.
If the power is out for part of a day I’m not bothering.
It depends on where you are and how stable your power is.
I live in the middle of town. In 25 years, I’ve had less than 5 hours of power outages. Total. What do I need a generator for? The collapse of civilization? Zombies?
My mom lived in a house in the woods, surrounded by trees.
The power company, being cheapies, refused to bury the power lines.
Every winter the power went out. Not once a year. Multiple times. For hours or even days.
Couldn’t get a whole house generator fast enough.
Yes. Cheaper than losing my freezer full of meat and not to mention keeping my family comfortable during an outage