I used to sell the big honking generators at HD. People figured they were the end-all solution to a power outage. They don't figure on the noise, which can be pretty loud and annoy the neighbors. They don't take into account fuel and it's cost. They don't take into account maintenance, turning it over once a month, doing some preventative every 3 months. And finally they don't realize that once the generator is placed on a cement pad, and wired into the house by a qualified electrician, it pretty much becomes part of the landscape and isn't moving soon. In fact, in many places, it does actually become part of the house/real estate and must specifically be exclused from any sales.

Had some people complain about the fact they couldn't run all their appliances once we explained the different loads that could be placed on the generator. They figure that the generator will run the entire house more or less indefinately on a load of fuel. People need to read the brochures and plan for the generator they are getting. It's not a small feat to keep one running right.

I lived off of generator power while in the Sinai desert. Two gennies, odd and even, ran 24 on, 24 off. With a squad of troops it was still a pain to keep them fueled, maintained and in good running order. And we had a more or less infinite fuel supply, albeit in 5 gal cans. I can't imagine trying to keep a large gennie fueled and maintained alone. Oh, the gennies were sandbagged in - imagine a 3 sided box - for noise reduction. That was fun to do too.