Bear I understand your point on the backup generator. I am located in a rural area of VA and we loose power for about every weather problem, thunderstorms, hurricanes, high winds, ice storms and it goes on. When I built my house20 years ago, I set it up for power loss. My heat is propane furnaces, hot water is propane. I have a 17KW propane powered generator with an automatic switch. I can run everything in the house in the winter time but I only run the upstairs heat pump, for A/C, in the hot months. This setup has been a life saver over the years. When we have a hurricane come through we can be without power for weeks and I just sit in my house fully comfortable.