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3browns

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I've been without power here for 4-5 days a few times in the last decade because of storms. No inverter, no back up generator.

Ice or snow in the washing machine, then the food out of the fridge I'm worried about spoiling goes in the washer.

Candles still work well for light, like they did 100 years ago. Otherwise I have a few M18 work lights, and over a dozen M18 battery's.

I've never felt the need for a generator.
We had the mother of all windstorms some years back and the downed trees and branches blew so many transformers the utility companies used every single one in reserve in the state and had to have more sent up from America

We were out of power for just short of 4 days

Luckily it was only late October and the house stayed above freezing but we were on a well so no water

On the 3rd night I finally had enough and stripped down out of the back deck and used a gallon plastic pitcher to dip water out of the hot tub to take my first bath/shower in 3 days; luckily it was still fairly warm

Most of the refrigerated stuff was a write off
 

maulhead

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We had the mother of all windstorms some years back and the downed trees and branches blew so many transformers the utility companies used every single one in reserve in the state and had to have more sent up from America

We were out of power for just short of 4 days

Luckily it was only late October and the house stayed above freezing but we were on a well so no water

On the 3rd night I finally had enough and stripped down out of the back deck and used a gallon plastic pitcher to dip water out of the hot tub to take my first bath/shower in 3 days; luckily it was still fairly warm

Most of the refrigerated stuff was a write off

We had 3 really nasty blizzards come through here in 7 days back in 2010. Two of them where back to back separate storms. No power for 2-1/2 days, it came on for part of a day, and into the night then was back out again. Few days later the power came on, then another 3rd big blizzard blew in, and took out the power for almost 3 full days. There was 7-10 foot drifts of snow, then no snow at all for 1/2 mile. There's a sub station a few miles from my house, something shorted out there, in the 1st storm and it went up in flames.

National guard was out here flying around checking on people. They landed a heli in the field across from my house to see if we were OK. We had just done our big shopping trip the day before the first storm, so we had tons of food. Washer was full of food and snow, even had some food in coolers buried in snow drifts sitting outside. Wife was heating up water on the wood stove for bathing. I took a snowmobile to town so we had drinking water, since we are on a well also.

I really enjoy times like that. When society is all freaked out, and most things are shut down. Less hustle & bustle.
 

3browns

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We had 3 really nasty blizzards come through here in 7 days back in 2010. Two of them where back to back separate storms. No power for 2-1/2 days, it came on for part of a day, and into the night then was back out again. Few days later the power came on, then another 3rd big blizzard blew in, and took out the power for almost 3 full days. There was 7-10 foot drifts of snow, then no snow at all for 1/2 mile. There's a sub station a few miles from my house, something shorted out there, in the 1st storm and it went up in flames.

National guard was out here flying around checking on people. They landed a heli in the field across from my house to see if we were OK. We had just done our big shopping trip the day before the first storm, so we had tons of food. Washer was full of food and snow, even had some food in coolers buried in snow drifts sitting outside. Wife was heating up water on the wood stove for bathing. I took a snowmobile to town so we had drinking water, since we are on a well also.

I really enjoy times like that. When society is all freaked out, and most things are shut down. Less hustle & bustle.
The worst storm I ever saw was in Kentucky of all places. Winter of 1993-94

It was an ice storm that took out power, shut everything down, and crippled the state for days

It was one of those call out the National Guard times
 

maulhead

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The worst storm I ever saw was in Kentucky of all places. Winter of 1993-94

It was an ice storm that took out power, shut everything down, and crippled the state for days

It was one of those call out the National Guard times

I like big storms, snow storms more then anything.

In 2009 we had two different tornadoes real close by in the same week. I did not enjoy those, but was neat to see none the less.

1st one snapped every power pole on the road like tooth picks for 3 miles, then it petered out about 1/2 mile from my house. Wife was outside taking pictures of it. I took the kids and went in the basement.

2nd one was at night, I was on the way home from work, drove right into to it, it was raining so hard I could not see the end of my hood, I put my flashers on and stopped, it started hailing then raining, then hailing again, it was so loud in the truck I could not even think, whole truck was rocking back and forth, I truly thought my truck was going to come off the ground it was shaking so bad. Then it just switched off and it was dead clam perfectly quiet. Next day I went back to where I was parked, there was a big swath of wheat missing out of the field as far as you could see, only about 100 yards from where I parked and rode it out.
 

Kiwioilboiler

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So, in an effort to derail any more butt cavity drilling and filling discussion drama, I want to get an inverter generator for power outages

I think 4-5,000 watts would suffice

Any suggestions on brand and model?
I bought a 2000w Champion after asking around in here, because they weren't a common brand at home.

It ticked all the boxes. Cheap and available with a proven reputation.
It's country of manufacture ruffled some feathers, but I don't have any.
Ran it in on a heat gun. Changed the oil. Basked in my preparation awesomeness.
Probably never need it, but we got lucky the last cyclone so my number will come up soon enough.
 
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