What Is The Best Generator For My Needs?
This is probably the most common question we are asked. It helps if you approach this question with the perspective, What do I NEED, What do I WANT, and What would be NICE to have. Take a look around your home, and think about all the things that require electricity.
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Essentials Circuit GENERATORS – 7 to 11kw
Provides enough power to run the essential items in your house to keep you going, like:
- Sump Pump
- Refrigerator
- Furnace
- Garage Door
- Family Room
- Master Bedroom
- Bathroom
- General Lighting
Keep in mind that these circuits are examples of only, and can be switched out for ones more specific to your home.
Partial House GENERATORS – 14 to 18kW
Typically will cover all of the items in your home you NEED to get through a power outage, plus some areas you WISH had the power to make it comfortable:
Essentials:
- Sump Pump
- Refrigerator
- Furnace
- Garage Door
- Family Room
- Master Bedroom
- Bathroom
- General Lighting
+ Comfort Items:
- Living Room Outlets
- Kitchen Lights
- Office
- 2nd Bathroom
- Dining Room
- Alarm System
- Phone System
- Outdoor Lights
Whole House GeneratorS – 22 to 48kW
If you’re just looking for a straightforward system that covers everything and does not want to pick which circuits you really can’t do without or have multiple panels in different areas of the home, making it difficult to centralize one backup emergency panel, then this would be it.
No transferring of circuits into a separate “emergency” panel is necessary, because the generator has enough capability to equal that of your utility company. In many cases, a gas utility meter upgrade is necessary. This one-time expense is often minimal, typically $100, and does not affect your monthly bill – you just have a meter capable of delivering more gas to meet the higher demand.
Entire Electric Panel (s)
Full Utility Service Redundancy
Understanding “Manual” Circuits Versus “Automatic” Circuits
When you size a standby generator, you have to take into account not only the circuits that are manually used, such as your garage door opener, your coffee maker, microwave, TV, ironing board, etc. but also the automatic circuits that operate without your interaction.
Things like your furnace, sump pumps, refrigerator, etc. Several kilowatts of backup power is necessary to operate these automatic circuits.
Our estimators can expertly determine the appropriate size generator for you.
