I had a 5000 watt generator to start the hurricane but apparently the "magneto" crapped out on me after about 12 hours and I can't get any parts. I walked into Sam's and grabbed a 6500 watt generator made by Honda. Really nice unit. I will probably fix my old generator and hook it up to my A/C unit and hopefully be able to run it off that when needed. The other generator is hooked up to a panel that is wired directly into my main breaker panel so no problem with feedback down the lines to hurt the workers. I wired my hot water heater to it but doesn't seems to be working. hoping its not just dead and a result of improper wiring by me. Not so bad though, we never have cold water in So Fla, average temp of our water out of the tap is probably mid 70's so its kind of refreshing.