Can somebody please advise me first
on the advisability of, and second
on the type of generator to purchase
from the overwhelming selection offered
HERE

Just two adults living in the home.

The link given is the 'for sale' section (cheaper) - does
that mean they have a use-by date?

If better options are in the main section I would like to know.

Ditto what Sean said.

Determine the power you need or want.

A 1kW can run one appliance. Good for power outs to run kitchen appliances as needed, or the refrigerator for an hour every few hours. Also nice for camping.

But to conveniently run a house without swapping plugs, you should figure out what you might want to run at the same time - AC, kitchen, lights, well, sump pump, etc - and add up the power needs.

It would help to know what appliances you want to run off the generator so as to figure out how big of a generator you need. Next consider if you get a pull start, sometimes it takes a while and some muscle to get those started, electric start generators likely will need to be jump started after months of sitting. Aside from the noise, often they are very heavy and awkward / near impossible for one person to move around - depending on the size of it, so that is something to consider when you decide where you want to store it and put it while running. The bigger the generator, the more fuel you will go through, although fuel consumption has gotten better, you still want to put it in a place with easy access to fill it up.    

Decades ago I bought a whole house generator, this is what I did and never regretted it.....  

1) Call an electrician and have him tell you the size you need to power either your whole house, or just the things you want to power up.  
2) Get his recommendation(s).
3) Shop around

My .02

I am looking for a solar power generator to run two refrigerators.  Does anyone own one of these and do you have a review you could share? 

We are also looking to use a solar generator to run our small frugal household. We haven’t yet sorted it. We have a retired electrician friend whom we asked for advice about various systems.

I am sending his latest email. It will give you some idea of considerations. Not everything will be relevant as you say 2 fridges only.


Anyone designing a system needs to know the fridge and washing machine wattage/amps and for how long each will be used on a daily basis.  Fridges are on 24/7 but will probably only cycle for about 8 to 10 hrs/day.  Washing machines will seldom be used every day but never the less total power has to be accounted for when designing. 
You have indicated you want a battery bank of about 25kWhrs so that's a start.  Without knowing your daily usage pattern or the actual power consumption of your appliances, I would suggest you require an inverter of not less than 1000W and capable of surging to at least 3000W for motor starting.  It must also be a (pure or close to) sine wave inverter in order not to damage appliances.  I would also suggest about 1000W of solar panels minimum.  I am estimating only and I repeat....I am out of touch.  
This is why I suggested approaching somebody who is still in the industry.  Give NQ Solar ....  They should be able to put a few generic figures into a spreadsheet and allowing for your location will be able to come up with a closer estimate (including solar panel sizing) of what you will need.  It should be relatively simple for them as they are doing it regularly.  They may even have a portable solar generator similar to the links you have sent me.
If you wish to continue with ...salesman... , you will need to look at the name plate on the fridge and washing machine.  This will provide you with either a current draw in amps or a wattage. He should be able to size solar panels etc from there.  If he can't, you should go elsewhere!  


I hope that helps. It’s clear as mud to me.

I bought a dual fuel gas+propane 12,000 watt peak generator a couple years ago.  Then went out and bought a bunch of 40lb propane canisters and got them filled up.  Secret about propane is that, unlike gasoline, it can be stored practically forever.  If I have access to gasoline, I'll get some of that and use it up first, while the propane is being saved for SHTF scenarios where we can't get gas.  Every few months when I have a bit of money, I get another canister.  100lb cannister are just too darn big/heavy, and would be difficult if not impossible to move up and down stairs ... although using 100lbs. would take up less floor space.  I was looking at getting a 500lb. tank for right outside the house, but I also need smaller ones to be able to move around inside.

I have a small propane stove, indoor vent-free propane heater, and a propane-powered (no-electricity-required) hot water system.

I've looked at solar, but darn if you wouldn't need to spend 10s of thousands of dollars on enough solar panels to keep your appliances running.  I thought that I would get one for the sump pump in particular, since I don't want my lower-level flooding if we lost electricity and water (I have a water-pressure backup).  But I ran the numbers, and this would require a huge amount of solar storage.

I'm trying to figure out if there isn't a way to get some manual pump installed there that in an emergency with no electricity and no water I couldn't manually pump the water out of there to keep the lower level from flooding.  I also wonder if there's a way to alter the foundation to allow the stuff just to run off, since there is a bit of a grade in my backyard.  My previous house didn't require a sump because the water was just channeled downhill from the house.

I have a gas fireplace that I'd like to convert to wood, but it would probably require that the flu be swapped out.

Now, back to the main subject, they have these 12V refrigerators out there that require a lot less power (since power is lost in the inverter) and that might be an option.  But I think the question is what your intended scenario is.  If you're just planing to get by a few days of power outage, I would just gave a large deep cycle battery and an inverter, and then charge it from the home's electrical current.  Longer term, you'd have to calculate the number of solar panels you'd need to sustain it for the duration.  I suspect, however, that in a SHTF scenario, it might be difficult to acquire foodstuffs that require refrigeration and that one might be living out of cans and stored dried goods.

Here's just one 12V refrigerator that I found ...
https://www.recpro.com/rv-refrigerator-10-7-cubic-feet-12v-stainless-steel/