How big a generator do you need? With all the recent issues with electricity more and more people are interested in buying generators to temporarily power their homes during outages. Buying a generator can be confusing as well as expensive. So before we go any farther one side note, if you read this and kill yourself it's not my fault. All electrical work should be completed by a licensed electrician.
GENERATORS GO OUTSIDE! This is important, you could and probably will die if you use one inside.
Now I'll make this as short as possible. The size generator you need will depend on your electrical needs. Generators are rated in watts. So if you knew the watts you needed you could add those up and get close. So I will give you 3 scenarios to choose from. Anything else will cost you extra.
First we need to understand the triangle of life. Get a piece of paper and draw an equilateral triangle (3 sides all the same length). You will have three points to your triangle, write these 3 words there. Good, Fast, Cheap. Now you are allowed to pick a line. Your line will have 2 words on the end of it. Either good and fast, fast and cheap, or cheap and good. This will relate to almost every purchase you ever make in life.
For our purpose, if you buy a generator the day after electric goes off, you will get fast and cheap, or fast and good. A fast, cheap generator will probably kill you, so you go with fast and good. So it's not going to be cheap. Everyone understand so far?
Now as for the size, what are your needs.
- I need everything, I want it to be like the power never went off. I am a big baby and need my blow dryer, air conditioner, hot water, blah, blah blah. You need a whole house generator. This would be between 12-20 kw and cost about $3000-$8000, plus installation of about $5000. When your electric goes off you start it up and keep putting fuel in it as needed. You don't miss a beat.
- I need a light, and a radio. You could get by with a 1000 watt or 1KW generator. This is about $200-$400, depending on when you get it(during or not during a power outage). A 1KW will work about 10-60 watt light bulbs and a radio/tv safely.
- If you can't afford #1 and need more than #2, you should opt for a 5500-7000 watt generator. These will sell for $500-$1000 when there isn't a power outage. With this you can power up around 10 lights, gas furnace or 1 space heater, tv, microwave and a few other small items, computer, laptop. This is what most people choose.
What else you may need:
You want heavy duty extension cords. All cords are not equal and you need to buy 12 gauge cords and they are expensive. They run about $60 each for a 100 foot cord. What most people do is buy a cheap one and plug in a space heater. Space heater use an enormous amount of electricity, about 2 times what a gas furnace uses. The cord becomes warm because it is overloaded and may cause a fire that could, yes, kill you.
Power strips/surge suppressors are a good idea to keep you from overloading your extension cord.
5 gallon gas tanks, always turn it off the generator and let it cool down before filling. A 5500 watt will usually use about 15 gallons a day. So you want 3 gas tanks to keep from running back and forth more than 1 time a day.
Flashlight, for when it is 3 am and your generator runs out.
Finally electricity is no joke. You should pay an electrician to come over and review your power outage plan, after you make one. Show him/her where your generator will go, your fuel, all places you will run cords. Talk to them about provisions for the gas furnace. Anything else that may be specific to your situation. This should cost you about $150 or approximately 1/30 of the amount of your funeral, not counting the tombstone.
Below is an estimate of power consumption in watts, but most things that plug in have labels that will tell you. If your label has amperage instead of watts, multiply it by the voltage supplied, usually 120, this will give you watts.
Microwave | 1500 | |
TV | 300 | |
Washer | 500 | |
Electric Dryer | 4000 | |
Gas Furnace | 1000 | |
Gas Stove | 200 | |
Space Heater | 1500 | |
Lights | 60-100 | |
Water Heater | 2000 | |
Electric Stove | 10000 | |
AC | 5000 | |
Refrigerator | 540 | |
Computer | 150 |
