Back to generators
The #1: Don't buy a jobsite generatorIf you’ve ever hired one of these noisy petrol-driven jobsite generators you’ll know what I'm talking about. Small petrol generators are notorious for not starting up without "tinkering" with them first - and this can be really annoying.
Remember this when you buy your portable generator -- you're buying a standby generator, not a jobsite generator!
These small petrol-powered generators that you buy at your local builder's store are great for odd jobs and jobsites, but not as effective to power your TV or computer.
The #2: Don't upset the neighboursGenerators make a lot of noise. Fact is that there are no silent generators -- but some are quieter than others. At 3000 RPM (revolutions-per-minute) most petrol generators, running under load, can be irritatingly noisy. In fact when a supplier tells you that the generators runs at 75db's, it's usually louder because they've probably not mentioned that exhaust noise. Buy the quietest generator that you can find.The #3 : Running a generators is expensiveAfter the thrill of having your new generator installed, reality sets in -- Any generator over 5kVA is expensive to run and can easily consume around 2 liters (or more) of petrol every hour. Do the math! If you have, say 4 power outages a week for 3 hours per outage, that's 12 hours x 2 liters of fuel = 36 liters. At the price of petrol or diesel it's NOT cheap!
A bigger generator, say a 30kVA, will polish off as much as 100 liters of diesel in 12-15 hours running time. That's an absurd 8-liters an hour.
Then there's the environmental factors like pollution, and of course, the repairs and maintenance costs.
Generators are, no doubt, an essential form of backup power, especially if you're running a business, but if you can do without them in your home, you'll save yourself a bundle. BUT BEFORE YOU GIVE UP ON HOME GENERATOR POWER ALTOGETHER,
take a look at the SINEMASTER IG2600
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