What's the Best Generator for Home Backup Power? (Learned the hard way)
So the outage last week wrecked us, lost basically all the food in the fridge and freezer, no way to run the sump pump either which almost flooded the basement. Been putting off buying a generator for like 2 years cause the prices scared me off, but this was the final straw.
Went down a rabbit hole comparing portable vs inverter vs whole-home standby, way more to it than I expected honestly (starting watts vs running watts almost got me, nearly bought something underpowered for the fridge + sump pump + a few lights).
Ended up leaning toward an inverter generator since I didn't want to deal with a full standby install and permits, but still torn.
For anyone who's been through this, was whole-home standby worth the extra cost over portable/inverter? And any brands you'd actually avoid? Trying to figure out if I should've just spent more upfront instead of hunting for a mid-range one.