# How many Generator Watts do I need for my home



## ZillaMonster

3000, 7000, 8000? How do you figure how many watts you will need when selecting an automatic switchover generator? I have propane gas right now and want to get a generac generator. I do not want to get something that will not be enough. Is there a special formula by reading the meter or figuring some type of calculation chart?


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## solardon

That's one of those "what if" situations. What if you want to run the furnace and the well and the washer and maybe the TV and an Xbox and a few lights and the freezer comes on and the fridge is still keeping the beer cold. If you are planning on living on a generator, you start setting priorities as to what appliances can be turned on at the same time. Remember, our great -grandparents may not have had electricity. It's time to look into alternative standards of living to decide what you really want to run. Pull the main fuse or breaker fro a coupla days and see what you miss the most. Be sure to eat all the ice cream first. The only formula I can come up with is find out the wattage of each appliance that may be running at the same time, add them up and make the generator 1.25 times that wattage.


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## Carl

It's depend on you what's you want to use on the generator,these thing mostly use in every house ,Refrigerator 120V x 6A = 720WWater Heater 240V x 20A = 4800W2 ,Lamps 120V x 1A = 120W,Pump 120V x 1A = 120W,Total connected load = 5760W.I suggest you buy a generator that is at least 10% bigger than what you think you'll .
I also want to suggest to you,please use the generator on the had wiring because the chance of the short circuit increase when you use the generator.


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## Xplorer

Carl has the correct idea, but due to surges when items turn on, I would add an additional 25%. Don't want to short change a fridge when it cycles too often or you'll be looking for a new one. JMHO


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## Leon

How big is your house?


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## Watercanlady

We have a 16K and we still do not run everything from it. The fuse panel that comes with it is limiting. Ours is 16 K and the fuse panel has 16 breakers so we had to choose what we needed and wanted to be run by the generator. We are happy with ours and we installed it ourselves. Hubby is very handy


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## nadja

First of all Carl, my refer only draws 1.1 amps. A Friend whom I have been helping out with solar, just bought his new refer and it only draws. .6 amps All appliances are not created equal. The surge when mine starts is about 2.6 amps, and only lasts about 1 nano second. My chest freezer is exactly the same power draw. 

Watercan lady. I have 3 gennies and my largest is actually 7kw. I can and have run my entire house on it for several hours at a time , due to the fact there are several days a year of total clouds when I get little or no solar. 

Leon, how big your house is has no bearing whatsoever on solar. What is a factor though, is how MANY people live there and how many of those are kids. Kids are the biggest downfall of solar. They waste power (and everything else) just being kids. 

You must learn to live within the solar limits, it will not learn to live within yours !


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## nadja

Solardon. If you really plan on living on a gennerator full time, I would suggest that you buy a water cooled unit. They are usually tractor or industrial motors, with a radiator and very reliable. However, they are also very pricy. Propane will generally last the longest, and next would be diesel. Gas is the shortest lived unit.


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## nadja

*This is a short pic of someone attempting to wire in his house*

This is a pic of an illegal attempt at bootleg wiring. By the way, generators can do this very same thing. Be sure you ground your unit correctly and read the entire owners manual before attempting to hook it up to your house. Also, a generator transfer switch is required by law to prevent this from happening. Lineman get killed now and then because somebody wired in their gennie and fired it up during a power outage. The linemen not knowing this, grab the wires and this is the result. A generator transfer switch prevents this from happening


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## Denton

I have a 7.5k generac. It is good for everything but the A/C. 
That is to say, it runs the fridge, freezer, three or four lights and a computer.


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## nadja

Denton, You sound like you have already used it a few times and kinda know what will and what won't work on it. Instead of a/c, you could run a few room fans. That is what we do, when it gets hot and muggy here in Az.


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## Denton

nadja said:


> Denton, You sound like you have already used it a few times and kinda know what will and what won't work on it. Instead of a/c, you could run a few room fans. That is what we do, when it gets hot and muggy here in Az.


Yup. They don't draw a lot of current.

The wifey doesn't like it really cool in the house, anyway, and I am always outside at work, so south Alabama heat and humidity isn't going to kill us.
Now, the mosquitoes are another story! :-D


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## nadja

When I lived in Georgia years ago, we found that as the squadrons of skitters came in , they made great moving targets ! Don't forget the gators when out there, especially around the swamps and small river inlets etc. Nothing like one of them guys to spoil your day.

My wife heard chewing sounds coming from the porch about 15 years ago, and thinking somehow we had locked one of our dogs out, opened the front door. Much to her surprise , there was a mountain lion eating the dogs food out of the dish. She simply closed the door and came back to bed. Here is a picture she took as a little girl with her little Kodak brownie camera while taking a short cut through the jungle. A real New Guinea Head Hunter . And you think the skitters are bad. Lol


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## 1895gunner

My 5500 powered two refrigerator/freezers and a full size upright freezer, 5 ceiling fans, big screen tv, cable box, floor fans, lots of lights but nooooo A/C. Also, I had to unplug the refers to fire up the well. This is wired into the house and worked great for the last three of four hurricans in 2004. We didn't have it for the first and I learned quick.....

Sure beats sitting in the heat.


1895gunner


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## nadja

Good for you Gunner. Most A/C units I believe are 220 ac and use a super ammount of power to run. Unless you talking about the window units. They do make some smaller window units that arn't too bad . But why waste the power when you need to keep the cold boxes working anyway ?


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## mustang247

Looking to do whole house off the grid and run everything including AC, and I an wanting to know what the total wattage would be for this using solar panels, wind turbine generators inverters, battery power storage.


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## 7515

mustang247 said:


> Looking to do whole house off the grid and run everything including AC, and I an wanting to know what the total wattage would be for this using solar panels, wind turbine generators inverters, battery power storage.


Step one - calculate the total load
Step two - find a rainbow and take the pot of gold, this will not be cheap.


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## HuntingHawk

My neighbors have a double wide with central air. Electrician estimated & installed a 10,000watt automatic unit. Oooops, he had to turn around & install a 12,000watt.


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## sparkyprep

The National Electric Code has a complicated equation to calculate the total number of watts that your home requires. I will not get into it here, as I don't want to be even remotely responsible for you making a mistake, and burning your house down, with you in it. Hire an electric company to do the calculations for you. Whatever the cost, it will be worth it.


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