best home feature

I have a built in emergency generator. True I only have power loss twice per year at most. But those times, they made the generator priceless. It came with the house. After having it, I'll always have one. Even if I have to put it in. Loss of power this morning. Generator kicked in, power could be out hours or like last time a few days. But while repairs are being made, I have power. I think a back up generator is a must have!

 

Had one installed three years ago, power has not gone out since!

 

Just be sure to have it serviced each year including the oil change. Also, watch the starter battery as it begins to age. I know from experience. If the battery goes out, you might find yourself with an automatic generator that won't start when you want it most.

 

Yeah, the service is a good tip. I also check it every few months to make sure its starting.

 

Naturally!

But I'd bet the moment you can't start it for some reason you'll loose power!..... Friggin' Murphy!

Cheers,
Ian

 

Its kind of funny, having one and never having power outages. When I was looking at my house, first thing pointed out by the selling agent was the generator. First thought was I'll never need it.

I have a small barn. Inside the barn is my well water system. The barn is on its own power feed, fuse box, etc. The generator doesn't power the barn. If the power is out for 10minutes or more, water pumps need to be reset. I lose water in power failures. If I could change one thing it would be wiring the water pumps into the generator. Loss of water is actually worse then power.

 

having had a gated property before, we installed a remote opener. Saves such a ball ache (get in car, drive to gate, get out, open gate, get in car, drive a little bit forward, get out, close gate, get in car).

Yeap.

 

The unit auto starts once a week and I have a service contract that includes a check up every six months. I'm very familiar with Mr. Murphy. He comes by unannounced when I need him the least.

 

That's not just the nature of that mo/fo, but the absolute definition thereof!

Very well stated!

Cheers,
Ian

 

This is a minor one but I put in exterior low-voltage lighting: wall wash lights, lights integrated into the retaining wall around our pool, path way lights, etc. The transformers are on timers so they all turn on at 5:30 and off at 10:00, then on again early in the morning in the winter when we leave before dawn. Mostly LED bulbs so there are many lights but the draw is still small. Nice to come home to a lighted house every night.

That and the remote for the fountain pump as well as drip irrigation for the roughly 100 plants and bushes landscaped around the house is also a nice feature in the summer.

 

That's a wish feature next time or may put it in now. Gate is manual. I have a very long driveway, house is set way back from the road. My street is a dead end and I'm at the end middle house. Besides water front, the second most popular real estate is out in the country. We also have estate farms. People drive around looking at the houses. Its not unusual for a Sat or Sun to have ten cars an hour turn around on my street. If I leave the gate open, cars come all the way up to my house to turn around. Its very annoying. Its also a pain to open and close the gate. Sad thing if its not locked people open it and drive up to my house. O.k. I didn't mind three of them. Old ladies that got lost.

 

Worst feature is neighbors! I have five houses on my street, one of them is mine. They are all acreage, thank god we are spread out. The problem, one of the neighbors, they have a B&B, they host corporate events and weddings. Out in the sticks sound carries, spring till fall, every weekend is annoying DJ music and wedding speeches! Now they have film and television productions every few weeks. Guess the location scouts find a good location, they use it as often as they can. The problem is the film trucks and crews cars are parked along the entire street. Turned my street into a one way.

The flippin film people keep leaving cars in the middle of the road. Can't get around them. Takes 10 to 20 minutes to get them to move them. I'm trying to be polite as I can, but 3rd time in 3 days of being held up 20 to 30 minutes is getting ridiculous. I'm now laying on my horn.

 

Next thing, the film crews will be buzzing your neighborhood with drones.

Maybe you will want to invest in one of these:
High-tech 'bazooka' fires a net to take down drones | Fox News

 

The people who do all the annoying stuff. They fly remote controlled airplanes on sunny days. Its only a little annoying. My actual next door neighbors have a dirt bike track in their front yard. Two stroke dirt bikes get annoying. Worse yet the guy behind me has a jet ranger and a Robinson helicopters. He did stop flying directly over my house when asked. Its just a little noise when take off or landing.

Friends and family wonder why I want to move.

 

Check into the generator size required for large inductive loads such as 240V pumps needing 60 amp breakers. Typically they draw 3x the steady state power for startup. Do the math to see if the unit you have can handle adding it especially if already supplying air conditioners. If so, then definitely go for it. A backup generator is a must for being out in the country IMO. No water means no toilets either so basically your camping when the power goes out. Too old to do the Grizzly Adams thing anymore.