Hi Chris, I think the issue that you are trying to solve is to have a generator for backup power for your house. You mentioned portable was there any particular reason for that? I installed a generator for my home in New York about a year ago so have some experience in home backup systems, at least from the home owner point of view. The way I see it there are roughly three ways to go: 1) Lower cost. Gasoline powered portable generator. Up to 7,500 Watts. Exepcted to pay $US 700 to $US 4,000. Instalation wiring setup from $US 1000 to $US 2000. 2) Mid price. Propane powered. Up to 12kw to 15kw. Genset cost from $US 2000 to $US 3000. Instalation cost from $US 2000 to $US 4000. Lawn mower engine based, air cooled. 3,600 rpm. Auto start on power fail over. Permanent instalation on a gravel base. 3) High Price. Propane powered. from $US 20kw and up. Genset cost from $US 10,000. Instalation cost from $US 4000 to $US 8000 and over. Truck / car engine based. Liquid cooled, presssured oil system with spin on filter. 1,800 rpm. Permanent instalation. Concrete pad. Heavy lift required for instalation, the genset is over 1,000 lbs, and too heavy for even a four man crew to lift. Auto start on power fail. The decision as to the best route is really I think family dependent. If you or a member of your familly are pretty abled bodied and can wheel about a generator then then option 1 will work. Note generators are heavy even portable ones in the 7.5 kw capacity. On a power failure you will need to wheel out your generator and start it up outside. Keep the generator in a sheltered position away from rain and snow (water and electricity dangers), but NOT in a garage or basement due to Carbon Monoxide poisoning dangers, which are serious,fatal and sadly happens alot. This spot also needs to be away from your house a bit due to fire risk. You will need to fill your generator about once every five hours or so. A 7.5kw generator will need about once gallon of fuel an hour. Gasoline fule storage is usually limited to 20 gallons by town fire codes. Gasoline should be stored away from your house and will keep up to one year using a fuel stabilizer like STABIL (Home Depot). I recommend that you have the installation wriring done too with a transfer switch. The alternative is to run power extension cords all over your house for power which can be problamatic The best portable generator out there IMHO in the 7.5 kw portable range is the Honda EM 7000 AB. This has inverter electronics that allow the engine to run at a different speed depending on power demand. So this means lower noise, less wear and lower fuel consumption. Non inverted generators in this class usually run at 3,600 rpm to give you 60 Hz power. Yamaha also make Inverter generators. Note you will have to run your genset once a month to maintain it. For most home owners I would recomend the mid price route. The contractor who installed my genset said most people went that route. The main advantage is that you have propane for a power source. You can install alot ot it in a tank near your house I have 400 gallons. Or if you have mains gas you do not need a tank at all but yo run the risk that you mains gas may fail in a storm. Propane also will keep indefinately and be fine to use. These genesets also will auto run twice a week to for maintenance purposes. The instalation is housed nicely and when the storm hits there is no need to run about in the dark getting wet and cold. In the end I ended up going for a 20kw Cummins Onan genset (High Price) because I wanted some Air Conditioning to work. The car based engines run typically at 1,800 rpm, lower speed and hence less noise and wear. Usually there is only a limited number of circuts that can be powered due to the capacity of the genset. Usually people put on the following: 1) Well pump for water (if you have one) 2) Sewage ejector pumps (if you have one) 3) Furnace blower and furnace electronics (hot water for your house) 4) Air handlers and blowers (heat for your house, no frozen pipes, unless you are in Florida) 5) Fridge / Freezer 6) Lights (some) 7) Television 8) Other stuff, alarms etc. garage doors. 9) Air conditioning compressor units, these require high power and have even higher starting power requirements. Usually a cheaper solution is to purchase a small "Window" A/C and use that for one room during blackouts. Good luck with your installation. Warmest regards, Mike.

I tried googling it but wasn't able to find much about the company or reviews on the products. The link I posted is the generator that they are selling. It's a 9000. The new price is 4,000 and I have them down to 2,000. It's brand new. They only started it to test it. But if it's Chinese junk I'll pass on it. Would love to hear your opinion on the company if you have used their products before.

I survived a 10 month total house renovation, living in our unfinished basement with 2.5 year old twins. Dual burner hotplate (induction wasn't a thing then) a microwave, crock pot and probably most used was an electric skillet. We used it for breakfasts; pancakes, french toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, lunch; grilled cheese, bacon and tomato, and dinner; spaghetti sauce, meatballs, hamburgers, pork chops, stir fry, chicken breast. .. My husband was general conractor for the reno, much of it being sweat equity after an 8 hour day of work. We often did breakfast for dinner, it suited us all. We ate a lot of veggies and dip, salad (with chicken, tuna) and cut up fruit. I think the reason that I survived is that I drastically lowered my standards at the beginning. Did I mention that I did dishes in the basement powder room sink and that as soon as the house was framed, we installed a tub? No walls, no windows, just a tub in a framed house! It was actually quite luxurious after schlepping the whole family to my parent's condo for showers several times a week. I also may have hosed my kids down in the back yard after a particularly dirty play time. You do what you have to do. Looking back, it was kind of fun and we all reminisce fondly about it.

We have a portable generator as we can get week-long power outages from strong storms. I think it's 800 hp, but not sure. We had an electrician create a dummy outlet in a wall by the fridge. We plug the fridge into the dummy outlet, which is wired through the wall down to a dummy outlet in our garage. We then plug the generator into the garage dummy outlet. In other words, it's like an extension cord inside the walls with an outlet on one end near the kitchen & the other outlet down in the garage. It's only live if a generator is plugged into the garage end. And of course, the generator operates in our driveway for safe ventilation, not inside the garage. We also have our hot water heater set up so it can be plugged into the generator, & our fireplace insert blower is rigged so it can be plugged in too. So if our power goes out, we have cold food, hot water, plus hot air circulation from the fireplace during winter storms.