Originally Posted by
cookie
Do you know who you are buying it from? Do they have a salesperson or can you speak to the electrician that will be installing it? I would start by making a list of what is important to have on during a prolonged outage. Mine covers about 2/3 of my whole house, but most people don't really need anything that big (unless you don't mind a large portion of your neighbors camping out at your house during storms!)
My list included my kitchen and home office, sump pump, freezers and refrigerator, garage door opener, at least one bathroom, hot water heater, furnace. You may be able to get by with less, but my philosophy is, it's not like buying a pair of pants. If you decide you don't like them or they don't fit, easy to take them back and get another. Not so easy to do with a generator, so make sure you are very comfortable with what it will and will not cover during a power outage.
There was another thread about this that brought out some other points, like oil changes/maintenance. (I pay $130.50/yr for a complete checkup and oil change)
They can be noisy, so try to make sure not to put it like under your bedroom window or family room if possible. It does need to run for 20 min every week. Most of them can be set for a time that is least disruptive.