I have a Sears 5200 watt portable generator on wheels. Here in NE I need heat, light, well water, refrigerator in the winter. For cooking I use the propane grill. The 5200 watt works fine so long as I don't try to do too much with it, like wash clothes or run the dryer. It certainly provides survivability indefinitely and uses about 1/2 gallon of gas per hour. With no power as recently with Sandy we run the generator about 8 hours per day and that does the job. An important component of the system is the GenTran switch, which is a device attached to my breaker panel that the generator output leads to for distribution around the house. I've had this about 12 years now and seem to find a reason to use it each year in a power loss due to a summer or winter storm. Wouldn't be caught without one.