Congratulations to the winner of our Generac “Power Your Life” Contest, Bill Decherd of Barrington, Illinois!
Bill’s essay was chosen from the over 1,600 submitted during our online contest:
When our power fails, it’s the usual annoyance of no lights, no appliances and keeping our refrigerator sealed. We’re on a private well, so we’re limited to the water remaining in the pressure tank. But our unique plumbing makes that moot — we can’t flush the toilets because all sewage and floor drains empty into an ejector pit. An ejector pump sends everything to our septic tank.
Every time a storm comes through we hope the lights don’t go out. If they do, we have to dig out our portable generator and hope it will start. Then I take our 100-foot, 12 gauge extension cord and slither through the crawl space to connect the ejector pump to the generator.
The last time we had a major outage, the portable generator wouldn’t start. We drove through flooded streets until we found a generator to rent. By the time we got it hooked up, five inches of water had seeped into the basement.
Now, every time a storm approaches and the lights flicker, I hold my breath.
Plus, in our cold climate, we’re hoping this doesn’t happen in the winter. We could be shivering in the cold and have major damage from frozen pipes.
We could really use some peace of mind from Generac.
As the winner, Bill will receive a Generac Guardian standby generator and installation valued at $8,000! In addition, the project will be featured on an upcoming episode of our nationally syndicated TV show Today’s Homeowner with Danny Lipford.
Visit our Giveaways page to find out about any other contests, sweepstakes, or giveaways that are currently taking place.
Learn about the cost of ejector pumps in our in-depth article
