By Eric North
(GSL) – Folks, if you’ve ever stared down a finished basement full of water, spoiled food, and melting ice cream while the power company shrugs and says “maybe Tuesday,” you know the sweet relief of a generator that actually runs when the lights go out. I just lived it — and barely dodged disaster thanks in part to equal parts procrastination, duct tape legacy, and last-minute panic maintenance.
It was July 3rd in beautiful Tinley Park. We don’t do long power outages here in the suburbs. Those are for country folks with wells and septic systems, right? Wrong. A nasty line of storms rolled through, dropping trees and knocking out the juice at 3:30 p.m. right at the tail end of that brutal heat wave.
With the power out, trees down and fingers crossed the power would be restored soon, I looked at the sump pit. I saw the water rising. “Uh oh. I better do something,” I thought to myself.
That’s when I remembered my crippled generator sitting in the garage like a neglected lawn ornament. Two years ago I fired it up during (another) day-plus long power outage (how quickly we forget) and discovered the fuel line had dry-rotted and was leaking gasoline everywhere.
Being a red-blooded American, I slapped some duct tape on it (because duct tape fixes everything), crossed my fingers, and somehow avoided my generator turning itself into an enormous backyard tiki torch.
Like a good boy, I bought a replacement fuel line way back when. Yeah… it had been sitting proudly on top of my toolbox ever since. Like a good procrastinator, I’d admired it many times while thinking, “I should really install that someday.”
Someday arrived with a vengeance.
With my sump pit water level rising, I tore into that machine like a man possessed. New fuel line, carb cleaned, air filter swapped, oil changed, fresh stabilized gas poured in. An hour plus later, I yanked the cord and — miracle of miracles — she roared to life like she’d been waiting for her big moment.
Three extension cords became my lifelines. One to the garage keeping the fridge and freezer alive. Another snaked through the basement window to run the sump pump and ejection pump (that sump pit now mere inches from turning my finished family room and two basement bedrooms into an indoor wading pool). The third cord powered the house fridge, a couple of fans, some lights, and a power strip for charging phones.
Yeah, it was hot and miserable, but that glorious little generator ran almost non-stop from Friday at 5:30p until Monday night at 10:30p. The fans it powered at least made things a little better.
The only time it quit was when it ran out of fuel — my fault for not watching the gauge closely enough at first.
All told we burned through about 30 gallons of fuel (roughly $150 here in Chicagoland territory).
Worth every single penny and then some.
What I Did Right (The Short List)
- Thank God I had a generator.
- Thankfully I’d actually bought that new fuel line instead of just thinking about it.
- I kept some stabilized fresh fuel on hand for “just in case.”
- I didn’t panic. I got to work.
- I had extension cords. Some could have been better 12ga. cords, but I made it okay.
The generator, even though it wasn’t (nearly) big enough for the A/C, kept the basement bone-dry, the food safe, and gave us lights, fans, and phone chargers. Civilization sort of preserved at my house at least.
What I Screwed Up (A Longer List)
- I should have replaced that fuel line two years ago. Running a generator in a puddle of gasoline is a terrible life plan.
- I should have used fuel stabilizer with the gas last time I ran it so I didn’t have to clean out the carburetor after two years of untreated gas in it.
- I should have exercised the generator every three months for 10-20 minutes like a responsible adult.
- Should have way more stabilized, stored fuel on hand just in case the gas stations nearby aren’t pumping gas. Thankfully I didn’t have to travel far to replenish my fuel cans this time – and there were no lines. Next time? Who knows.
As for those without generators for whatever reason? They got the full Chicago-style misery package: spoiled food, flooded basements, and very expensive lessons in wishing “it’ll never happen here” is a crappy plan. Skip spending $400-600 on a decent generator and get to pay a few thousand in water damages and lost meat is penny-wise and pound foolish.
Look, we talk a lot in these pages of GunNews about being prepared. It’s often about how to avoid becoming a victim of crime and needing to defend your life and your family with a firearm. But true preparedness doesn’t stop at a gun. Storms, blackouts, “teen takeovers,” or whatever fresh hell the universe throws at you tomorrow or next week — it all comes down to the same principle: Don’t wait for the emergency to start preparing for it.
Exercise your generator regularly. Stock stabilized fuel. Keep those spare parts. Maintain your gear like your family’s safety depends on it… because it does.
My duct-tape-and-a-prayer generator saved the day once. I didn’t tempt fate twice. Don’t count on being that lucky. Get your house in order before the lights go out.
Stay ready, Illinois. The storm doesn’t send a warning text.