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Generator sales humming along with Y2K boost Folks prepare for possible power outages photo by Jim Craven George Ohlhausen talks to a fair visitor about generators Saturday at the Jackson County Fair. Generator sales have grown along with fears about year 2000 problems. EDITOR'S NOTE : Fear and rumors abound as society readies for the year 2000. Today is the second part of a package in a series of stories to explain how vital community systems work -- water, power, public safety, to name a few -- and what agencies and residents are doing to prepare for what emergencies might lie ahead. By MELISSA MARTIN Campers, hunters or builders who run power tools at a work site without electricity used to be the main consumers of generators. But now, residents who depend on an electric pump to get their drinking water are buying generators, retailers say. So are some city folks who want to run the fan on their pellet stove during a power outage. "Y2K is creating such an awareness that we have had tremendous growth in sales," says Darren Lundy, consumer products sales manager for Cummins Northwest in Portland. Some computers can't tell the difference between 1900 and 2000, prompting worries that computer-run systems, including those supplying electric power, could fail at the beginning of next year. Portable Onan generator sales have tripled, from $1 million to an estimated $3 million in Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Northern Idaho and Western Montana, Lundy says. Stationary generator sales have doubled, from about $2 million to an estimated $4 million in sales between October 1998 and October 1999, he says. "It's been nothing less than incredible," Lundy says. At the Cummins Northwest shop on Crater Lake Avenue in Medford, generator sales were 50 to 75 percent higher earlier in the year, but are starting to level off now, says George Ohlhausen, operations manager. Sales were 10 times the normal rate earlier in the year at Hubbard's Ace Home Center on South Pacific Highway, but are double the rate now, says owner Mark Seus. "Even during our peak, the people buying from us should have had a generator anyway -- people who live outside the city who may depend on well water," Seus says. "The farther away from the city you live, the more power outages you have anyway. People like that should have a backup power source." Sales are twice as high at Naumes Equipment as well, says Jim Meade, sales manager. Popular items include a 6,500-watt Kubota generator, which is powerful enough to run an entire household, and a 1,600-watt generator, which connects an extension cord to appliances, such as a freezer, refrigerator, microwave or hair dryer. Some of the sales are to Jackson County residents who heat their homes with oil, he says. They connect a generator to power their furnace during an outage. Generator sales are slowing slightly after the January rush, says Dale Wolfard of Wolfard Equipment in Medford. In the past, his main customers were loggers running a chain grinder to sharpen their saws or campers running a generator to keep the lights and air conditioning on in their trailers. Today, the new consumers need a generator to run a two-horsepower well pump at their home, plus a lesson in how to care for a generator. "A generator needs a little maintenance and attention, about as much as a riding lawn mower needs," Wolfard says. Generator owners should change the oil in the engines every 25 hours, start the engine every 30 days if it's not being used regularly, check air filters for cleanliness every 100 hours of use and remember that fuel left in the generator can cause deterioration, Wolfard says. Generators burn about one gallon of fuel per hour. Most important on every company's list is safety, retailers say. "Don't do it yourself," is the advice they give to consumers who want the generator connected to the electrical system of their home. It takes a certified electrician to install a manual transfer switch that stops the generator when power is restored, preventing power from back-feeding into the electrical system and hurting or killing a utility worker who might be working on a nearby line. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA