Tuesday June 5, 2007 

Fat Bastard came with our new cottage, together with the 70’s Mexican rattan furniture. The previous cabin owners downplayed his cranky, feline disposition. We quickly discovered how hard he is to get along with: finicky in nature, moody and extremely difficult to start. Some days on the first pull, but lately, he flatly refuses.

Climbing up onto his black metal frame, I bend over and repeat the prayer, “please start, please,” then taking hold of his small black rubber knob, I yank -nothing. I yank again and again and again still -nothing, not even a spark. I yank on his cord until sweat begins to bead on my forehead, a dull aching throb descends onto my shoulder blades and my knees quiver from being crouched too long. Hopping down off his stubborn frame, I stamp around our boat house, red faced, worn out and ticked off.

“It’s over. I can’t take this anymore. I need a generator I can trust. I need a generator that will start. You are so out of here,” I warn Fat Bastard.

As cottagers who live off the grid, the generator is our grid. Our power requirements are lessened by having a propane fridge, stove and fireplace, and our lights run from a solar panel and two –six volt batteries, but when we need to start the water pump, run the washing machine, or recharge batteries then we need a generator: ergo, Fat Bastard.

“This is the year,” I tell my husband, “this is the year we break down and get a new generator.” Of course I have been saying that for the past three years. I’ve never considered myself a high maintenance gal. I would opt for a generator over a sparkly bauble any day of the week. So I was delighted when I finally convinced Bill that we should get a new generator for our anniversary.

There are a couple of things you need to consider when buying a generator. Fortunately, Cottage Life Magazine, May 2007, You’ve Got the Power, had some helpful tips that I read after I bought ours. I would recommend this article for first time purchasers (www.cottagelife.com). Listed below are some of my own thoughts.

Things to Consider when Buying a Generator:

1. Power How much do you need? Generators generate power –it’s measured in watts. You need to write down all the appliances you have that use electricity and calculate how many watts they use. Some appliances list the watts, while others need to be calculated. For example, our washing machine uses 115 volts and runs on 12 amps. To calculate the watts required, multiply volts and amps.

Washing machine: 115 volts x 12 amps = 1,380 watts
• Vacuum cleaner : 120 volts x 7 amps = 840 watts
• Computer charging: 120 volts x 1.3 amps = 150 watts
• Hair dryer = 1,600 watts
• Toaster = 800 watts
• 2. Timing After you calculate how many watts your appliances requires, you then need to figure out if you are using these appliances at the same time (peak wattage) –requiring a bigger generator, or if you use them intermittently –maybe a smaller one would do. I am not able to run my hairdryer, the washing machine, the vacuum and the water pump all at the same time (4,300 watts); our generator is not big enough. Any appliance that heats or cools is going to use a lot of watts. If your cottage has electrical appliances or base board heaters, you will likely need a generator that can produce at least 5,000 watts.
  Tomorrow ….Shopping for generators.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 at 5:21 pm and is filed under Fix It. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.