My Portable Gasoline Generator

Briggs & Stratton 1450 Generator

Baton Rouge and South Louisiana once again fell victim to a massive hurricane(Gustav) that knocked our lights clean out for a week. We were lucky as other people are still on generator power and likely to remain that way for up to a month. I finally had enough and decided it was time to purchase a backup power generator for emergencies which are becoming more and more common around here.

Review of My 5500 Watt Generator

Honestly I didn't have much time to shop around on brands and compare prices given the nature of the situation. However when I saw Briggs & Stratton on the side of the box I felt comfortable as they've always made good engines. I knew this portable generator was at LEAST half a great product. I brought it home and got to learn all about generator use, generator maintenance and powering my home with a generator. Despite our circumstances it was interesting and educational.

A 5500 Watt Generator will power a 1400 foot home

We were easily able to power our refrigerator, 10,000 BTU air conditioner, television, cable and lights with this device.(which also has 8250 starting Watts) I was told that if I wanted to I could've easily powered my washing machine and several other items. I was careful in reading the specifications of the generator and used it carefully since I'm new to them. The gasoline burned at a rate of around a half gallon per hour.(I guess this would be its mileage) Generator Cost

With tax my generator cost me $870. I had to spend about another $50 on power cords with high enough gauge to power my major appliances and then around $100 on gasoline. All in all you're talking about $1000 to run a home for a week on one of these things using it sparingly.