well in pittsburgh with heavy moist air and winter temperatures near
zero occasionally I would much rather try starting a generatoir thats
not at 15 degrees. plus everything in my 16 by 20 foot shed rusts, no
doubt from trapped moisture and temperature swings.

CY: Rust is a serious concern.

so my generators
live indoors. I have 3, for redundancy two smaller ones and one 4000
watt unit

CY:I also like the redundant equipment.

with a bigger
generator even at low load, and bigger often means noiser.

my 1000 watt inverter and 1000 watt gasoline generator get the most
use here. havent needed the 4000 watt one for years thank goodness.

CY: Inverter... you have a battery storage bank? Or run it off the vehicle?
My 1200 watt ETQ generator is a two stroke, but it's very quiet. When a
friend had his power off, it ran his very old furnace.

by carefully rotating loads you can use little fuel, and be reasonably
comfy.

CY: An hour of furnace will heat my trailer to get me through the night.

last summer we got a new furnace with AC, previously we used window
units.

well I kept one 5000 BTU window unit for emergencies, during the
summer.its living in a closet in case we ever need it

CY: Yes, a window unit will often run off a portable generator. Central AC
takes more power, and larger starting current. Might be possible with some
larger generators.

remember gasoline may be in short supply, you dont have to light up
your home like a baseball stadium, get have some warmth, light, and
keep your freezer cold..

CY: With few exceptions, most of the time when you need a generator,
gasoline is unavailable. Cause the gas stations don't have power, to run
their pumps. The furnace run I did, was an exception. The guy was wihtout
power for non payment, and everyone else in the world had power and
gasoline.

its a good idea to have a few spare watts for your neighbors, during a
emergency if they have a light provided by you, they are unlikely to
complain about the genrator running

CY:It's nice to have extra power. However, you risk setting up yourself as
the neighborhood power company. Many people get insistent, miserable,
demanding, and jealous. Very few offer to help pay for your gas and oil.