We're looking to buy a standby generator, but I cannot find an unbiased rating list. Does anyone have personal knowledge of the various brands? Thanks,

http://www.consumerreports.org...ors/buying-guide.htm

http://www.dieselgenerator.org/propane-generators/

for two. I noted an RV site thread that noted a 1.8 gph rate of usage is about 20 pounds of propane etc. per hour, so you need a huge tank for standby. natural gas or diesel is going to be a longer lasting fuel supply... in the case of natural gas, endless supply unless the pipeline gets dug up.

I bought mine from a company called Powerland www.powerlandonline.com Their phone # is 888 807 6660 Fortunately I haven't needed to use it except to run it periodically
They tell you to use a high pressure regulator whose price was what I thought high, so I bought a regulator that is used for b-b-q's and it didnt run so well. So I called their service department to find out what was wrong. They told me that the regulator I bought didn't have a high enough pressure
I then went looking for one and couldn't find any, so I bit the bullet and bought theirs
The reason for that little story is to point out that I was satisfied by their support dept., and they were in the U.S.A.,and spoke an english I could understand
All in all I like the lpg generator for these reasons,
1 If there is a power outage I shouldnt have any problems getting lpg, rather than have to try to find a gas station that has operable pumps
2 I dont have to gasoline in 5 gal containers hanging around my house waiting to leak. The lpg tank are relatively leak proof and easily obtained.
3 LPG burns cleaner than gas, so maintenance will be easier.
4 Electric start ( manual also, if you need it )
My recommendation is to go for it, you won't be sorry
By the way, I just read the previous reply, and my response to it is: I have a 6000 amp unit that will handle my freezer, rfrigerator , some lights, TV set and a fan easily. It is estimated that at that usage, a 20 pound (5 gal ) tank of lpg will run for about 8 hours
Yes, natural gas would be the best,if you can get it if you have a source and can find a generator that uses it. They are available, but I dont know at what cost

This message has been edited. Last edited by: nona,

6000 amp ? Might be 6000 watts. I too have been thinking about a back up system and reading your post was a great help. Thanks, Nona. PS just devilen ya about that number....

I have a Generac 12KW propane and wouldn't sell it for anything now. Been without power for the past 7 days. Anticipate Power being restored Sunday. Just got telephone and the net today since 6/29. Auto start when the storm hit and the power went out. A little high for consumption at about 2 gph but no hassel carring gas or deisel cans.

@redoverfarm, that's exactly the reason you set up a whole-house genset. congrats.

when we bought our place, the power dumped for 2 to 12 hours every time the wind rustled the leaves.

the power company finally got tired of resetting the breaker, and put one 'a' them newfangled insult-ated type 'a' wires up there.

the last outage was a fail at the substation, and we've had many months of no worries. but I still worry about winter heat if it goes down, and my cheap farm-raised wife isn't letting me bring a generator home.

Well on Sunday evening the power was finally restored after 9 day outage. With 3 freezers and one refrigerator it was well worth the investment. But I did not run it constantly for a couple of reasons. It was not designed to be used like that for an extended period of time and the cost at about $3.50 @hr it would have been too costly.