We are in the third day of a unusual major ice storm. The leaves are still on the trees, and have not even started to turn colors much less turn loose. The ice is devastating to all the trees. We have several trees that will have to be removed. Power is out to thousands of people in large areas of Oklahoma.
We are very fortunate, and we have electricity, and the only power outrage was about 20 second long. However, my wife has now decided we need a backup generator.
In the 20+ year we have lived here we have had two power outages that lasted more than an hour. Evey time we have a generator thread I get the fever, and then sticker shock sets in when I settle in on a generator. Pretty much the consensus seems to be the Honda 2200i inverter generator. That would run the furnace, fridge and a few lights and we would get by fine. If it was a summer event and we needed AC we can go to to a motel way cheaper than the cost of a whole house generator.
So my question is: How do I get the power into the house? The generator will be on the back porch and the extension cord through a door or window seems really stupid. I know they make the connectors that hook to the power panel in the house, and let us walk around in the house and turn the lights in that room. That would feed the fridge and furnace and any device in the house, we just have to be smart and not turn on too much. And I know that then prevents back-feeding to the grid and keeps the linemen safe.
Any suggestions on a type of connection, and what exactly it is called? I will hire a real electrician to install it. I just need to know what to ask him to install.
Would an electrician prefer I have the gizmo here and ready for them to install or do I trust them to sell me a good one?
If it was all up to me I would just live without the generator, but the wife says get one, so a generator it is.