Several years ago, after a major winter storm that left wide areas without power for days and in some isolated cases a couple of weeks, we bought a generator. It is a Wallenstein which may be unfamiliar to most, but they are made here in Canada, Ontario actually, and use a Honda engine and an Italian made generator unit. Mine has a 13 hp Honda engine.I looked up the type of alternator unit it had and found out the manufacturer is highly regarded in the electrical power generation business and makes multi-megawatta commercial units as well. Wallenstein makes forestry and farming equipment as well. Great little product. Well maybe not so little. It is 6500 watts continuous and 7200 watts starting and is 120/240 volt. It will run anything in the house including the electric hot water heater except the heatpump. The starting current of the compressor is just too much. That's OK because we also have a pellet stove that provides heat for the winter. I also bought a smaller 1200 watt generator just to power the pellet stove overnight if needed. No sense running a big generator just for a couple hundred watts at most. Also if someone should hear it running and decides to steal it I won't be out too much.
