Hard earned tricks learned through suffering regarding buying and using a Gasoline Generator

 I have bought now at least 2 generators that were supposed to be big enough to run my whole house. However, I haven't had the best success with either of them even though the one I bought from Orchard Supply about 7 to 10 years ago did work for several years pretty well. However, it was so loud I could not in good faith keep this one running 24 hours a day. So, instead I ran it from around 8 or 9 Am until 8 or 9 Pm in deference and kindness to my neighbors. Then this one stopped working likely because I used premium gasoline in it for about 4 or 5 years. I was told that Premium gasoline will "Burn up" gasoline powered generators because they are designed ONLY for regular gasoline. So, I realized that burning the premium gasoline that I often kept in gas containers for my KLR 650 motorcycle couldn't also be used in generators without (burning them up). (NOw burning them up does not mean catching fire but instead making them run to hot and causing other problems with the mechanics and electronics of a generator.

Then when this wasn't working anymore I bought a same size generator this time from Home Depot. However, the first one I'm talking about was only 500 or 600 dollars. However, the newer version which think was an American made generator was around 1000 dollars or more with tax. Then it leaked gasoline on the floor but at so slow a rate that you couldn't even see the drops (just smell it) which was awful.

Then my wife wanted to buy from Ace Hardware a plastic Shed for outside in the back yard so I wouldn't have to run the generator in my garage with the exhaust pointed outside when it was raining. I ran the generator in my parking lot or area next to my garage. So, I returned the leaking gasoline Generator to Home Depot once I realized where the gas was coming from which took several days because you couldn't see it drip at all. By this time my whole garage smelled of Gasoline. Then I tried to wash the smell away but it had gone deep into the cement pad by then so the smell wouldn't entirely go away even now a month later.

Then the last two power outages (there have been at least 10 or more now of 1 day to 4 or 5 days since January 2023) I bought about a week ago or more I asked a friend of mine about a smaller generator like a Honda. My friend said I should go to a motorcycle shop that sold gasoline powered generators too.

So, I found there a Yamaha 2200 inverter generator for 1700 dollars. This likely is the most reliable and quietest generator I have ever owned and reminds me of an Onan generator built into a Leisure Travel Van that I owned from about 2003 until maybe 2016 or around there. I used to use my Motor homes generator to keep power to my refrigerator and a couple of lights during the time I used this generator attached to my motor home when ever the power went out here.

But now I think I would recommend this Yamaha 2200 generator because it works and it quiet enough to run 24 hours a day and it only burns 2 to 2 1/2 gallons of Regular Gas in a single day.

So, I've run this generator about 6 or 7 days so far in the last 8 or 9 days 24 hours a day.

And Tuesday another Atmospheric River is coming even though it's supposed to devastate Los Angeles and San Diego instead of the San Francisco Bay area like always up until now. So, I have the generator and gasoline and 4 boxes of oak wood in plastic boxes with covers outside my sliding glass doors prepared for the next Siege if it still comes. As you can see this has been a really crazy year for Northern California but also for all of California too, Especially since December of 2022.

A normal year you might see one or two power outages not 10 or more like this year. One day the power went on and off and on and off about 7 to 10 times in a 20 minute period. I sort of wished I had unplugged my Tivo because all the power surges might have damaged it in it's ability to record sometimes. But, since a Tivo is a computer with multiple heads usually 4 it's like a computer more than anything else so likely if I turn it off it will repair itself like a computer, Ipad or smartphone when it is turned on and reloads it's operating system.