Ice storms, summer derechos and heavy wet snow all take down power lines here. A standby generator turns a multi-day outage into a non-event, provided it is sized and installed correctly.
Start with what you need to run
List the essentials first: furnace or boiler, sump pump, well pump, refrigerator and freezer, some lights and outlets, the garage door. Then the nice-to-haves: air conditioning, range, dryer. Motors need a burst of extra power to start, so sizing is about more than adding up running watts.
Typical sizes
- 10 to 14 kW: essentials in a home with gas heat, usually through a selected-circuits panel
- 18 to 26 kW: most or all of a typical home, including central air, with load management
- Larger liquid-cooled units: big homes with electric heat, multiple air conditioners or large well pumps
A proper generator installation begins with a load calculation rather than a rule of thumb.
Natural gas or propane
If you have natural gas at the street, it is the simplest fuel and never needs refilling. Rural properties run on propane, and the tank has to be large enough to run the generator for several days in the cold.
The transfer switch
The automatic transfer switch senses the outage, starts the generator and disconnects your house from the grid before connecting it to generator power. That isolation is what protects line workers and your equipment. For portable generators, an inlet box with an interlock does the same job manually.
Placement
Generators must sit outdoors with clearance from windows, doors and vents because of carbon monoxide, and on a level pad above expected snow and water. Think about where snow slides off the roof.
Generac, one of the largest makers of home standby generators, is based in Waukesha. Pair a generator with whole house surge protection, and if you would prefer silent backup for a smaller set of circuits, look at battery backup.