What to Know About Home Generator Backup

This summer we bought a backup generator for our home. If you've thought about getting a generator, you need to read this.

We wanted one to have a source of power in the event of a major power outage caused by a hurricane or another once in a century winter storm like we had in 2021.

Darling Husband did all the research, bought one back in August, and set it up. Here's what we learned. 

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT HOME GENERATORS

1. Educate yourself.

Watch several videos that discuss the problems with generators made abroad so you'll familiarize yourself with what to look for so you buy one that will work when you need it. Plastic "innerds" are a big no-no. Supply chain problems in getting parts from China can make repairs difficult.

2. Compute how many amps you need to power essential appliances.

Those are probably a refrigerator, house lamps, a television or radio, cell phone chargers, perhaps a small heater, and a small appliance. Anything that produces heat sucks power. Here's a Generator Sizing Chart that will help you compute what you need to run your appliances or home.

3. Set a budget.

There's more to getting a generator than the purchase price. These are some of the other expenses you'll incur:

• Concrete pad to set the unit on.
• Powering the generator with either propane tanks and/or jerrycans of gasoline.
• Connection to natural gas or a large propane tank if the generator is to be a "whole house" standby unit
• The proper size cable connection from the unit to a transfer box if the generator is to be an automatic or semi-automatic backup. 
• A transfer or interface panel box installed next to your home's electrical panel box for automatic or semi-automatic powering on which is a big ticket item ranging from a few hundred dollars for a unit that can power sections of the house on an alternating basis to a thousand or more for one that can power the whole house.
• A "soft start" kit to connect in to your HVAC for a "whole house" backup unit. This is something that saves your system because it pulls much lower amps to start up than the "hard jump" sound you may hear when your HVAC starts up.
• Protection from weather. Since the generator will be setting outside, exposed to the elements, you'll need to provide some kind of coverage to protect it from the weather. If you decide to build an enclosure over it, remember that you need to access the control panels easily and, most importantly, the exhaust port must be open to the outside, never enclosed.

From the outset, know what you want and how much it will cost.

3. Easiest generator to run is not automatic but a "plug and play" backup generator.

You just fuel it up (ours is a tri-furel which runs on propane, gasoline, or natural gas in case we want to make it whole house). 

Select which fuel you'll use. Start it (get one with electrical ignition rather than a "pull cord" unit like a lawn mower) and plug long heavy duty extension cords into the ports of the generator.

You'll use those extension cords to run your essential appliances.

4. A semi-automatic (my term) generator is better.

This can power sections of your house on a rotating basis. This makes it possible to have more electricity for your home. 

The drawback is that you must go outside, connect the big cable to the special outlet you had installed, switch off the house main power, and switch on the transfer box and the switches for the section of the house you wish to use. 

This is what we currently have setup for our house. We can operate just about everything in the house except for the HVAC system. 

The drawback of course is that if we're being hammered by a hurricane and the power goes off, we have to go out in a rainstorm, plug the big cable into this big outlet located on the back of our garage, do the other things mentioned above, then start the generator.

5. A fully automatic or "whole house" backup system is the best.

It's connected into your natural gas supply line or huge propane tank and the home electrical panel box. 

If the power goes off, even for a minute, the generator comes on, and everything in the house keeps working. Everyone would like this, but the biggest factor is the cost of tying into the gas meter and panel box. 

Our panel box is on the west side of our garage interior. The garage is at the back right corner of our home. Our gas meter is on the east side of our house close to the front of the house. Running a gas line from the meter to the generator which sets at the back corner of the garage exterior—opposite the wall where the panel box is located—would cost nearly $2,000 or more not to mention the plumber to tie the gas in.

Replacing the existing transfer box with one to make our generator a whole house backup is another $1K+. Then, of course there's the expense of the electrician to set up the new transfer box. Oh, and the soft start kit for the HVAC is another $400-500 plus the cost of installation.

6. Generators are noisy.

The first time I heard our neighbor's whole house backup come on, it sounded as if a big diesel truck had pulled into our driveway. When all of the neighbors' generators are running, it's deafening.

Even smaller generators are noisy and may keep you awake at night. When planning where to site your generator, take this into account. You'll want it as far away as possible from your house but that often means more expense in running lines.

Why am I writing this today? Because we've had storms since early morning, and our power has gone off half a dozen times. 

Did I send Darling Husband out in the pouring rain to connect the generator? No. We just went back to bed. Fortunately, the power returned when the morning light trickled in.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Of course, the power is on now, but the issue of "whole house" or manual start backup is still on my mind. If you've got approimately $10K to spend on a whole house backup generator, I'd say go for it!

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