Everyone living in the Northeastern United States remembers the Halloween snowstorm of 2011. A lot of trees still had their leaves, and the snow was heavy and wet, thus causing the downing of thousands, if not more, trees across the area. Many of those downed trees also took down power lines as they fell, causing widespread power outages, some of which lasted for extended periods of time. Because of the lengthy power outages many people lost all of the food that they had in their refrigerators and freezers, and unfortunately, few manufacturer's warranties will reimburse for food loss. To exacerbate matters further, when we power was restored, many people experience power surges that ruined the electronics in their appliances. (Power surges are another item that manufacturer's warranties usually don't cover). Many people ended up having to replace multiple appliances as a result. You should do an inventory of your house and see how much it will cost you to replace all of your appliances if this should ever happen to you. Some people were lucky enough to have protection agreements on their appliance that covered them, but you always need to read the fine print, because not all protection agreements are created equal.
If you were fortunate enough to have a liquid propane generator, many of them come on automatically in the event of a power outage. Thus, no spoiled food, no ruined appliances, no living in the dark, no cold showers.............................life goes on, pretty much as normal. Sure, it is a big investment, but if you compare the cost of a liquid propane generator compared with the cost of replacing all of your appliances, all you food, doing your laundry in a laundramat and taking cold showers, having a generator would probably save you money in the end. Will this every happen again? Well, no one knows what Mother Nature will bestow upon us at any given time, because even though she is sometimes predictable, she isn't preventable. That means that the only option is preparation. Copyright 2012 by John C. Fisher
Alternatively, maybe a liquid propane generator is a little bit out of the budget. There are plenty of relatively inexpensive portable gas and propane generators that might serve the purpose on a smaller scale at a more affordable price. Check below for some other options for portable generators that are slightly more budget friendly.
