what size generator should i get to run my whole house–with a well.2 refrigerators,everything?
Friday, November 20th, 2009 at
8:31 am
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There’s no getting around it – you’re going to have to add up all the watts of all the appliances + lights + whatever else you want to run, and get a generator that’s that size.
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That depends on how big your house is. Ours is 2800 sq. ft. During hurricane season when we were out of electricity, the only generators available were about 5300 or 5500 watts. This size ran 3 freezers, refrigerator, a few lights, the tv all in the kitchen, dining room and the freezers on the back porch and coffee maker and microwave. We had to unplug a freezer to use a window unit a/c. This didnot cover water heater, well etc but we have a pool so we used that to bathe and flush toilets by buckets full. We had plenty of bottled water for cooking and we grilled outside alot. That size at the time was $800.00. I think you can find better answers by checking generators online and looking at the wattage for each. It would have to be a huge generator to run all your appliances, well, waterheater, lights and central heat and air. Places like Home Depot and Lowes home building center can tell you better what size you would need for the sq. footage of your home.I would go shopping and browse what is available and get store help on what you would need.
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Fla. Hurricane alley granny
Square footage has nothing to do with sizing a generator. Add up your wattage, add 10%, and go from there. Freezers are ok for a couple of days if you don’t open them. Your well would be a required load.
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Licensed, Professional, Electrician.
Do you have electric air conditioning that you want to run? electric stove, water heater. If you answered yes than you want a generator
in the area of 20 to 25kw This size generator isn’t cheap. Try and buy one that runs on propane, or LP Gas as these don’tt age, or go bad after a couple of months like gasoline, or diesel fuel. Most offen your local gas company will provide a tank a a reasonable yearly rental. I rent a 1000gal tank for $ 150.00 per year.
The reason I have such a large tank of fuel is I want to be able to run my generator for 30-45days if were are without power. I live on the west coast of Florida, so you can understand.
Go onto the Internet and search for generators.
you will also need a transfer switch to switch the load from power company to generator.
A whole set up generator, and manual transfer switch should run around 9 to 10k. Then hire a electrical contractor to wire it up. The cost is high, but it adds value to your home of at least 150% of cost. Good Luck
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Your local power company can give you your average monthly usage. From that you can determine the size generator you will need. They are very willing to assist you with this.
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The basic size will depend on just what you have in the house and what type of heat, water tank and cooking range, and AC or heat pump you have.
Electric range = 50 A@ 240
Electric FA heat= 50 A@240
Water heater = 40 A@240
Clothes dryer = 40A@240
AC system = 40A@ 240
Freezer & Refrig= 15A@ 120ea
Lights = 15A@ 120ea
Microwave &Dishwasher =15A@120ea
Receptacles 4@20A ea@ 120
Looks to be about 300A @ 240 volts probable load allowance of 50% would mean a genset of 30-45 KW. This is for full use of the home not emergency use which is about 1/4 of that.
If gas heat, water tank and cooking the load drops fast.
As you can see more info is needed to give an exact answer, and make allowances that NEC derates many non simultaneous loads. Call an electrical contractor and give them an exact list of your need.
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I power my house with a 5500 watt generator. Ideally it would be a bit larger, around 8kW, but I can’t justify the expense of upgrading for the few power outages that occur.
It connects to a 12 circuit transfer panel and powers a deep well pump, sump pump, fridge, freezer, microwave and toaster ovens, lights and several outlets.
Check my web page for connection and operation ideas. There are pictures of the setup as well.
http://members.rennlist.org/warren/generator.html
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