Does anyone know anything about generators?

Build your own.

10Kw, diesel powered, 1100cc 3cyl Kubota engine turning 2150 RPMs. Total cost less than $1000. It will run the entire house including the water heater and stove as long as you only run them one at a time. The 13 gallon tank will run it for longer than I have ever needed.

The only thing I would do differently is to use a ST generator head rather then the cheap HF one. The HF one hasn't failed yet, but I have had to rewire it due to crappy wiring.

Buy a diesel powered welder from craigslist and put some outlets on it. That way, you can justify having something you only really need once a decade by using it to make a tube chassis MGB-GT with LS power when the lights are on (or, hell, you can still weld when they are off!)

Champion and all the others that look just like it all universally have good ratings, and cost about $300 for 3,000kw. They seem to last for years, and fire right up after sitting there for several months or years. They just seem to work real well.

For zombies, I'd go gasoline. Even with ethanol, stored inside it lasts for years just fine. Propane is expensive to run, bulky to handle, and you can't refuel your cans with the world ends, like you can with gasoline.

Generators work great if you use extension cords and the like and plug various appliances directly into them. Life gets ugly if you foolishly try to backfeed through the panel box via outlets. Houses burn, claims get denied, power companies collect large settlements for their damaged equipment.

Since this was bumped, I'll bite. We picked up a Champion generator at Costco for $699 the Wednesday before Sandy hit: http://www.championpowerequipment.com/generators/41532

It's the 7KW model (9KW startup) with electric start (very important to my wife). Note that I did not test the remote start, it doesn't make much sense when you have to go out and connect the cables anyways. It appears to be pretty well made, I assembled it without any issues, did a two hour break-in before the storm, and changed the oil out to synthetic. Then we ran it for over 60 hours when our power was out. I pretty much ran it continuously throughout the day (except for checking the oil and adding more gas) and then let it rest at night. Just did the 2nd oil change last night, as it's recommended around 50 hours. It didn't burn oil as it ran, but I was religious about checking it. It has a low-oil shutoff, but I don't want to rely on it.

I have a 4X8' HF trailer that I built sides for, and I rolled it into that, and put the piece of plywood that normally sits in the bed of my truck on top, and strapped everything down. There was plenty of venting for the exhaust (pointed away from the house, and the trailer was also pretty far from the house), but it also was sheltered from the rain that was still coming down when we lost power.

The generator did everything we asked it to. E on the gas gauge still had about a gallon left in the tank (important to know because you don't want to run it dry when your electronics are plugged in and running). I'd estimate that we were going through about 10 gallons per day, and we were getting 9 hour run times before the gauge was on E. The noise wasn't awful, and I'd say it was comparable with all of the others running in the neighborhood. I always used my HF ear muffs around it.

Edit: just saw an article that they're recalling previous versions of our generator: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57545168/costco-sold-champion-generators-recalled-for-fire-risk/

Before the storm, I had two 5 gallon gas cans that I had bought at Wal-Mart from when I rented a backhoe a years ago. They both were pretty miserable to use. My wife ordered two of these gas can on Amazon, and they were great. Everything advertises no spills, but these actually deliver on that promise. I'll keep the other ones around just in case I need to buy in bulk, but these are the ones I'll be using:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000W9JN4S/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=

They're $34 (ignore the seller in the listing that's getting $45 for them), and with Amazon Prime, that includes free 2 day shipping. Easily the best gas can I've used in many years!

I have the same Champion generator pictured above. I've had it for six years and is starts easy and is very reliable. I think it has a 6 HP engine.

Since both my kids and grandkids live near us, I recently bought a spare, smaller Champion 1500 watt generator ( $199 plus $35 shipping). It will run "basics" which is all I care about. And it will be easier / lighter to bring to races than the older (and heavier) one. I haven't run the new one too much but it starts easy and pulls a 1500 watt electric heater fine. Last week it went up to $299 in Northern so I'd wait until the price comes down.

One point: the big units (say over 5000 watts) have big motors and can be pretty thirsty. Like burning 15 gallons a day or more. The little ones (like my 1500 watt unit) can go 24 hours on about 5 or 6 gallons.

The small "inverter" type units such as the Hondas are very compact and quiet but they are $1000 or more and only about 1000 watts.

I have a 6.5kW Coleman I scored on craigslist for $300 about 5 years ago. I've used it about 4 times, 2-3 days each time.

I've got a portable 9K btu AC for the bedroom, and power the fridge/FIOS box/DVR-TV/a few lights/and microwave/coffee makers/toaster as needed.

I keep Stabil in the gas, tank absolutely full.

And I always change the oil while it's hot after a long run so it's good to go the next time.

Mine is a Generac 5000 watt/6500 surge that I bought several years ago for ~$600. It has never failed to start when needed and it's reasonably quiet. EDIT: I keep StaBil in the tank. So far, the only problem I have had with it is the 'made into the gas cap' fuel gauge won't go past 3/4 even when it's slam full.

I'm very seriously considering this guy: http://www.amazon.com/Briggs-Stratton-40304-IntelliGen-Generator/dp/B001LNN872/ref=sr_1_2?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1352734591&sr=1-2&keywords=Briggs+%26+Stratton+40304

Any feedback?

I don't have anything to add either except that the 45k versions of these:

that I maintain (rather poorly at that) in 130 degree dust filled locations will last for 17,000 hours before in many cases the hobbs meter breaks and you have to track the service hours by days until the new part shows up. Oh also the voltage regulators die from time to time but only every 5k hours or so.