When it comes to choosing the right size generator for your home, it's important to understand the power needs of your appliances and tools. Every home has different energy requirements, and you don't want to spend thousands of dollars on a generator that's too big or too small. To make sure you get the right size generator for your home, you'll need to calculate the starting watts of all the items you want to power. To calculate the size of generator your home needs, start by making a list of all the items you want to power during a power outage.
This could include a refrigerator, microwave, sump pump, lights, water heater, air conditioning unit, laptop, television and light bulbs. Then, add up the starting watts of all these items. If you need to power a refrigerator, microwave, sump pump and lights, a 5,000 to 7,000 watt generator should be sufficient. If you want to use more items that consume more energy, such as a water heater or air conditioning unit, you'll need to choose a 10,000-watt model.
It's important to remember not to overload the generator to prevent it from overheating and shutting down automatically. If you just add up the starting watts, you might think you need a generator with a maximum power of more than 4,650 watts. However, if you're willing to try it yourself, let's look at a couple of examples. In this case, you would need at least a 25 kW generator, since the starting power is 24,100 W.
In this situation, you'll likely want at least one 35 kW household generator for the whole household. For safety reasons, it is recommended to keep a generator running at least 20 feet away from your home and removing exhaust gases from an HVAC unit, doors and windows. If you suffer from frequent and prolonged power outages, consider a large inverter or a home backup generator. If you're still unsure what size generator your home needs or if you need an electrician to calculate it for you, call us at (800) 226-2636 or schedule an appointment online. You can also check out our generator installation page to get an idea of what we offer.
