I didn’t have enough room in the October show issue to include all the information from dealer Kenneth Holloway of K&S Power Equipment in Mauriceville, Tex., 20 or so miles northeast of Beaumont, which was heavily damaged by hurricane Ike. As with every major hurricane that affects millions in a given region, generators are in extremely high demand and worth their weight in gold.

Holloway said one thing he noticed in the aftermath of Ike was that mass merchants were holding firm and not exchanging “won’t work” generators for brand new ones, like they do with many other types of equipment. Making matters worse, Holloway said, was that many homeowners, in getting ready for the storm and filling up old and rarely used gasoline containers, were inadvertently washing out fuel varnish as they filled their generator fuel tanks, leading to carburetor problems. After reopening soon after the storm passed, Holloway said he was doing almost as much gummed-up generator carburetor work as chain saw work.