After retirement, I have been involved with designing and building homes that were not initially on the power grid. These homes need, by their remote mountain locations, a backup generator. These homes have transfer switches which are tailored to have only essential appliances, well pumps, ground source heat pumps, and lights run off the generator when power is lost. Not all generator sets need constant maintenance. It all depends on the fuel used and technology used to generate the power.

Having formerly been a maintenance engineer, I still have every generator I ever owned including a gas fueled Honda that is twenty one years old. My favorite two generators are Auragens. They require no maintenance other than visual inspection to see that nothing is loose or worn. The only part that can wear out are bearings. My vehicles diesel engines power the Auragens. These are very unique generators. That are used by the military, utility companies, and aid vehicles.

These generators normally cost thousands of dollars, but I have obtained new ones off of eBay for less than $350 and that includes the adapter for my specific diesel truck. That is less than the cost of a cheap gas generator. You can check their web site if you are interested, aurasystems.com. But if you had to pay someone for installation and programming, expect to spend substantially more money.

It is a pleasure to have both 5KW generating capacity and a vehicle with a sixty five gallon diesel fuel tank. It sure is weird to provide AC power to a filling station in order to pump diesel fuel into your own truck. One of the problems for utility and rescue vehicles is obtaining fuel when there is no power to the fuel stations. I can even run the Auragen while I am driving which is great for a parade tow vehicle!