When you lose power to your house but have a gasoline or diesel generator:

 My father was an electrical contractor and so was my grandfather and uncle in Seattle. I also worked with my father and he taught me this trade from the time I was 12  or younger until I was 17 and then the year I was 21 when I decided to work as an electrician for awhile after my first stint in college from 18 to 21.

So, what I'm saying here is from three generations of electrical working experience.

First of all, if you lose power to your home or business you do NOT want to run the power through the local outlets from your generator EVER. Why?

Because if the power comes back on unexpectedly from the street it could blow up your generator if it is tied in with the power cables in your home at all. 

So, instead you want to run the power with those orange cords that are outdoor cords usually around 100 foot cords to your appliances directly without running it through your electrical outlets on your wall.

This prevents your gasoline or diesel generator from literally blowing up and killing or injuring you or starting a fire.

I have found when power goes out from 100 mph storms off the pacific ocean and power lines blow down usually around January through march of any given year (by the way 100 trees on a nearby golf course blew down a few years ago and these were pine trees mostly that were 8 inches to 2 feet diameter trees at the base) that blew down and took power lines with them.

The 2nd thing is you want your generator outside and not inside. However, if it is raining what I do is to park my gasoline generator under my open garage door and make sure that the door inside my garage is locked up to my kitchen. Why?

Because one gentleman in Florida during  Hurricane Ian or after it died of Carbon Monoxide poisoning. the problem is that carbon monoxide you usually cannot see or smell that easily and it replaces the oxygen you are breathing with something that doesn't oxygenate you so you die if you get very much of it into your lungs. Basically, you pass out and go to sleep and never wake up.

So, where you run your gasoline or diesel generator is very very important. Some people build an outdoor shed away from their homes especially for this purpose.

I find that I can run at the very least a lamp in the kitchen and my wifi and internet as well as my cable TV and I can run my refrigerator off of my generator at the very least. Also, I usually start up my generator at around 8 or 9 am and turn it off at around 8 or 9pm in order to be more polite to my neighbors who may or may not have their own generators running during a power outage.

So, as long as you do NOT run the power through the outlets in your house or business you probably won't blow up your generator or start your house or business on fire if you are careful.

Also, we have kept in our SF BAy area home near the ocean a gas range which stays working even if the power goes out. However if you have a gas range for cooking you need a range which will still light with matches when the electrical sparker goes out with the power which is what we have. So, if power goes out you can still light your gas range. Of course there are always things like unleaded gasoline or white gas Coleman Camping stoves if you are in an all electric home or apartment where you could go out onto a porch or something to cook food for yourself and your family. Also, having flashights or candles available is important for power outages too. Also, we have special plug ins we keep plugged in all the time in the hallway and kitchen so if power goes out they have rechargable batteries and immediately go on whenever the power goes out 24 hours a day. This is helpful to avoid injuries when the power goes out in the middle of the night and you are scrambling for some sort of light to see anything with. 

Also, remember your smartphone usually has a light built into it too. So, if you know where your smartphone is you usually have a built in light there. Even just opening your smartphone you have enough light off the face of the phone to see sort of too. So, hopefully this information is helpful to you when you need it most.