I have a generator as well. Actually, I don't care where you live in New England you should have a generator.
BTW, No licensed electrician is going to hook a cable to your breaker box. First off it is illegal, secondly a fire hazard.
You need a switch box which is around $300.00.
http://www.electricgeneratorsdirect....m=shop+portals
Then you need to have someone get the connection mounted to the house, usually done by the electrician as well. All of this is done to protect the line workers from getting zapped by your generator. I believe that there is a hefty fine if they find out you were the one to zap a worker. More so if he dies.
You don't need a generator designed to run the town. A small one with enough power to run the fridge, furnace or propane stove, and a couple outlets.
Like this if you want a portable generator....
http://www.electricgeneratorsdirect....tor/p1843.html
or like this if you want an permanent mounted generator....
http://www.electricgeneratorsdirect....generators.php
Mine is a portable gasoline style that last about 6-7 hours at 1/2 load.
The bigger the gas tank and the longer the run time the better. Or you will need to refill more often, and at night that is a real pain in the frozen....ummm... behind.
Remember, "most" Outages last only a few hours. You will also need a very good system to lock up a portable one, from being stolen. A nice Kryponite cable motorcycle lock does a nice job to thwart thieves.
If your life depends on your computers you should invest in a computer compatible generator.
And while you have an electrician at your house you should have a whole home surge protector installed. Costs a few bucks but is actually cheap insurance for your home. Most electricians will suggest these for you.
And Cate I think you said you work from home so this especially important to protect your computers. My wife works from home quite often and uses company supplied computers so I had one installed for us. It protects everything in the home from surges or lightning strikes on the utility lines.
Another investment I made is to get an APC power backup for my electronics. This is because my generator does not have a line cleaner on it. Get one like this one....
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...0287&CatId=234
Doesn't have to be real expensive just one that says line conditioning on it.
This is important for your big screen TVs and computers. In Moultonborough you can watch your lights flicker on a minute by minute basis. Go to the Village Kitchen, the Library, Gas stations and sit there and watch the lights at night. They get bright and then go dim. Dim, then even dimmer, etc. It is the lovely NH Coop power we pay so much for. Nothing like bad power to ruin your electronics. This can shorten the life of your LCD or LED screens by years.
Sorry to ramble but I am a huge safety freak. I like to do most things myself. Electrical stuff is not one of them I always pay a professional for that stuff. So pay an electrician to install things properly. It could save your life.
