#1134 I reside in Michigan. I have a hobby/tree farm. A pole barn that I use as a work shop.
Large air compressor, stick and MIG welder, plasma cutter ... Man cave stuff.
I figured as long as I could afford it I’d get a unit that I could run all the stuff. When we lose power here it can be a week or two before restoration. Last real big time was two winters ago. Ice storm...10 days without. A couple events in between it was out a day or so.
Ah yes. My son has a friend in Maine; I don't know if they have a generator but I did check and they have a good wood stove and plenty of firewood. I am sure a necessary in those climes. We live in Florida: the hurricanes present an occasional threat of a few days to a week power outage; but the subsequent days are mild so work crews can easily work to repair all damage.
We bought a 1700 watt generator just before those four quick succession hurricanes in '04. Worked great! Afterwards I tried to talk my son into selling it but he insisted on keeping it. Haven't started it since. I may take it to a shop soon to see if we can put it back in order. You never know. I am diabetic and need to keep insulin cool.
I have a small solar system to pump a well in emergencies. I will try to expand it this year to avoid or supplement the generator. Hard times may be ahead - power shortages, rolling brown outs -- whatever these D.C. tyrants can harass us with.
Ugh I still remember that happening to us on our farm. A New Year’s Eve ice storm snapped power cables all over the county and we were without power for 5 days. Sleeping in front of the fireplace to keep warm... hauling water buckets from the pond up to the barn to water the horses (losing half the water on the drive up)... That was late 1980s—before you could just go to Costco and pick up a portable generator for the water pump! If I was still living on that farm today, I would definitely have that stuff standing by. Storms like that were so rare that we didn’t even think about it until it happened. But it’s definitely in my sack of “Whoa is me we had it so rough I had to walk 10 miles uphill (both ways) just to go to school...” tales.