And if you do buy a generator, make sure you run it for at least 4 hours right after you purchase it......
I bought one last year after I lost power for 12 hours during a blizzard. House got down to 48F and the aquarium was in the low 50's....Thankfully all the fish made it.
So I bought a generator after this and tested it out for about 15 minutes. I started it randomly just to make sure it didn't sit too long without running. But never for more than 5-15 minutes and of course since I bought it, I haven't lost power
So my buddy, who is a little further south in PA, borrows my "brand new" generator after losing power from the hurricane. He leaves it running and goes to get more gas. When he comes back, the generator is off
Try to pull the chord....
Rut row! Seized....
Brand new fresh oil and supposed to be "new".
Well, while looking at it, I notice a clear envelope taped on underside of the gas tank that neither I nor the manager at Lowes had seen. I bought the generator as the last one of the shelf(floor model) but as NEW. I got 15% off being that it didn't have a manual/box. But it was supposed to have never been used.
This little envelope contains a repair order saying basically that the unit had seized, was freed up(but no parts really changed), oil changed and put back on the shelf. Needless to say I was fuming. My poor buddy was stressed out thinking he had to buy me a new generator. When I showed the repair order to the manager he looked like he had seen a ghost. I just calmly stated that I had every right to be very pissed off, but was assuming it was an honest mistake and the manager didn't know it was repaired. All I wanted was what I paid for...A new generator.
Luckily I got a full refund, but had I not found that repair order, I would have been out of warranty and probably out of luck.