10 days ago, a storm blew through with rain and 75mph winds. Knocked power out to about 100,000 people, 60,000 in Macomb County where I live. Pretty narrow band of damage. Came home from work to the attached.

Hooked up the generator to the transfer switch I had installed, flipped the switches and we had lites and power in just about every room, including cable TV and Internet access. Only inconvenience was I had to jumper a few things (microwave, washer/dryer, dishwaher) that I hadn't considered "emergency" items onto circuits already on the xfer-switch. When I installed the switch, I figured 6 circuits would be enough for emergency power, which it is. But I'm looking at replacing it with a 10-circuit switch to get operational across the board with just about every appliance in the house (except central air)

My 13500w/8000w generator never bogged down and I never saw the 2 meters on the switch go above 1500/2500 (4000w total). Used about 15 galllons of gas over a 48 hrs we were without power. I had paid about $1100 for the generator and acouple of hundred bucks for the switch and miscellaneous electrical items for hookup.