Home Generator---

no doubt.

I like the idea of eliminating the short outages (had two this week--one when I was trying shower and go to work)

Get a propane tank yeah you can hide out in a hotel & loss all your meat in the freezer & refrigerator, do you have pets? hotel living with a few pets is a fricking treat if it's allowed! there is more to buying a generator than saving a few bucks when losing the electricity. Quality of life

You are not going to get a new diesel 20kw for $4500.00.

You could get a smaller one and just pick what you want to run

I'll just add...not to be argumentative...something smaller and portable is workable. However not knowing your layout...you have to have a place to store it. You have to go drag it out each time it's needed. If you are out of town or dead...could your wife manhandle a 300# generator...maintain it. (They all require some maintenance) etc. I have three portable generators...from large to small. They performed well during Katrina, but the hassle of extension cords all over the house and trying to keep them fed with gasoline was a pain in the arse...At the time I didn't have a safe way to connect one of them to the house. I remedied that right after Katrina to only later go with a 20 KW NG Kohler, transfer switch etc. It is costly...some would argue not worth it. For me it is/was an insurance policy. Insurance that if I was not here... my wife would only have to wait less than 10 seconds for power to be restored to the house. No wires, no chasing down gas at stations that didn't have any or no way to get it out of the ground if they did. Motels are nice...if you can find a room...if THEY have power. If you don't hunt, fish, garden, buy in bulk etc. Then leaving two or three freezers/ refrigerators to thaw may not be an issue for you. In the end it's your choice which way to go. Think it through. Good luck.

Where do you live? Propane companies will provide a tank to you for a small yearly rental fee (30-50 bucks a year). They come out and fill it up upon request. Propane is cheap and will burn a lot cleaner.

I used to work in the generator business and now I work in the fuel business (including propane). I'd be happy to point you in the right direction on a propane or diesel provider in your area. You want to burn off road diesel in a generator if you go that route because you save .44 a gallon vs the on road diesel you buy at a gas station

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I also disagree that it is easier to get diesel than it would be propane in a long outage.

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Availability isn't the only consideration. Deterioration is a big deal with diesel:

LINK 1
LINK 2

Propane has an indefinite shelf life.

Can you imagine the demand for propane delivery if we had another Katrina? A whole lot more people have generators than they did then.

Do you think the propane folks can keep up?

I have a diesel transfer tank that is about 80 gallons. I can keep the diesel rotated so it doesn't go bad. They just so much more efficient than those air cooled gas ones. Lot more up front though.

I have a small one now that ran my well and my frig and freezer and TV during Katrina. I actually have two. One an import diesel at 6000 watt and one a gas at 5000 watts. I keep the diesel on at the office. It burns less than half what the gasoline one does.

I have almost talked myself out of it BUT still interested.

Thanks for the feedback.

Houses in Baton Rouge run on natural gas. Propane demand in a city like that is relatively low.

Diesel generators will also cost you about double if nothing has changed in the last couple of years.