Whole house generators, also known as standby generators, can be very useful tools if you live in an area that’s prone to power outages. Unlike a small portable generator, a whole house standby generator unit is designed to provide power to your entire home. That means, if the power goes out you’ll still be able to use all of your home appliances and lights as if you hadn’t experienced an outage. Conversely, a portable generator only affords you the use of a very few appliances for a few hours. A whole house generator can also run for days on end, depending upon the size of your fuel tank, so you’ll have dependable power for quite a long time.
The main thing is to find the right backup generator for your home, to run all of your appliances. To do this, you’ll have to determine how much electricity your home uses on average. The right model could bring 40-50 kilowatts of power, meaning your entire house should be able to be used for hours on end. Although, even if you have a whole house backup generator, you’ll still want to manage power carefully to get the most out of your unit, and ensure you have power throughout the entire outage. Use your power bill to determine your average output over the course of a few days, that way you can determine which house generator will meet your standards.
Another factor to consider is the size of your fuel tank. A small portable generator can usually only hold around 5-15 gallons, meaning they only provide power to a few appliances for a few hours. But whole house generators have massive fuel tanks that can provide power for days. Determine the size of tank you’d like to have, based upon the likelihood that your power will be out for long periods of time. It could be dangerous to have an excessively large tank of gasoline just sitting in your yard, so be sure the type you buy is realistic for how often you’ll be using the unit.
Also consider how you want your full house generator to function. There are types that will be tied into your electrical system, so that they can sense when your power goes out and turn on automatically. Or you can also purchase a backup power generator that has to be turned on manually during a power outage. Automatic standby house generators can be more convenient, but are also much more costly as well. Also factor in the size of the unit. Large standby generators that are intended to power an entire house can be as large as a ton, and in excess of 10ft in width.
For a standby house generator you’re going to want to stick with an outlet that focuses specifically on generators. That way you know you’ll get a quality product, from a reputable source. Some of the best websites to begin your search are HomePowerSystems.net and even Amazon.com. Usually whole house generators will range in price from $2,000 to in excess of $10,000.