[Ranger Z]

Wind power is very site specific. One spot might be great while another only a hundred yards away would be terrible. They sell a kit that records wind speed and direction. You need to put it right where you plan to put the windmill and see what it says. You must have X amount of wind for Y hours a day or you are wasting your money. Also remember that the wind changes with the seasons. Numbers that looked good in the spring might not be there in the dog days of summer.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Ranger Z]

Poonie, for what you are doing I would think the gas generator is the way to go. I keep a couple15 gal drums in the shed. Every few months I fill up my car from the drum then replace it. That keeps it fresh. Last week the power went out in our whole county. Some places the power wasn’t back up till 08:00. My 5.5KW generator ran all night on 5 gal. of gas.

A couple years ago we lost power for over a week due to a bad ice storm. Then I only ran the generator for a few hours at a time several times a day to keep the fridge and freezer cold and run the well pump so we could take hot showers and flush toilets. (My stove, hot water and furnace are all natural gas.) Used about 35 gal of gasoline that week.

 

[Ranger Z]

Something else is that if you tell an electrician that you want to plug a generator into your house he will probably not wire it up for you. Not without a very expensive power transfer box. The reason is that if you do not turn off the main breaker to the house first and start your generator you will be sending power back out through the whole neighborhood. If a lineman is out there he could get zapped. More likely you will be trying to power up the whole neighborhood and your little generator will just drop to its’ knees and die.

You could just tell him you want to plug in a 220V grinder you picked up. That it will be for a 30 amp service with a locking type plug. That is the kind you plug in and turn to keep them from falling out. But that would be wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.

BUT ALWAYS REMBER. The FIRST thing you do when hooking up your generator is kill the main breaker to the house. That is normally the top one in the panel located in the center. And the last thing you do when shutting down, after you have disconnected your generator, is turn that breaker back on. If you switch it on and your gen is still plugged in you will fry it right there.

If you have the money to spend Homedepo and others have a very nice setup they can install for around $2,500, last time I looked, that runs on natural gas and will automatically start up and put itself on the line when the grid goes down. Then disconnect and shut down by itself when power is restored. Very cool. I have lusted after one for some time but have never gotten one.