Power up your whole-house generator with the key details
Understanding how a whole house generator works helps you prepare for power outages, as these systems automatically detect grid failures and switch your home to backup power.
Expect to pay around $270 for professional generator maintenance, which keeps your system ready and helps you avoid costly repairs from neglected upkeep.
Your whole house generator needs proper fuel storage and regular maintenance, including checking oil levels and keeping fuel tanks full to ensure reliable operation during extended outages.
Hiring a local generator installation professional handles the complex fuel connections and transfer switch setup, giving you confidence that your backup power system operates safely when you need it.
For homes that experience regular power outages during extreme weather, a whole-house generator offers a more reliable source of backup power. Before investing in this emergency power source, it’s helpful to understand how whole-house generators work.
Whole generators tap directly into your home’s electrical system and provide an alternate way to power it when the electrical grid experiences problems. They are permanent installations that last for many years, switching on automatically when unexpected power problems hit. Here’s everything you need to know about how whole-house generators function.
Any home generator provides power that appliances use to run in the event of an electrical grid failure. However, whole-house generators, also called backup generators or standby generators, are large, powerful models (up to 20,000 watts or more) designed to provide usable power to an entire electric system, powering rooms, major appliances, or even the entire house. They are a common solution in areas without reliable power, frequent blackouts, or off-the-grid living.
These generators burn fuel to turn an electromagnetic motor and generate an electrical charge, which is regulated and passed into a home’s system. Whole-house generators need a lot of fuel to run for long periods of time, so popular fuels include natural gas or propane.
Modern whole-house generators are largely automatic. They are triggered by a power outage or similar problem and switch the home’s electrical system over to generator power as needed. The generators still require maintenance, with the average maintenance session costing around $270.
Installing a whole house generator is a job for a professional generator installer that may also require fuel work, like hooking up natural gas connections or installing a permanent fuel tank. An electrician will need to install a transfer switch near your electrical panel, which switches home electricity from the power grid to the generator when necessary.
Follow these prep steps before installing a whole-house generator:
Get price estimates from at least three generator installers to find the best deal
Determine the generator’s fuel type
Secure the proper storage for fuel type
Determine what size of generator you need for your home
Whole-house generators can operate with several kinds of fuel, and some can even switch between fuels with the right settings or conversion kits. The main fuel options are:
Propane: Propane is long-lasting and you can arrange for deliveries to keep a large propane tank full when storm season approaches. However, you need to install a large propane tank first, which adds to the expense and space required.
Diesel: Diesel is a stable, affordable, and readily available fuel source. However, diesel doesn’t always work well in very cold weather, and it tends to lose its shelf life after about two years, so it may need more frequent replacement.
Natural gas: Natural gas generators connect permanently to a natural gas line to supply fuel, similar to a gas fireplace. Natural gas is very affordable and the permanent connection means you don’t have to worry about refilling. However, natural gas is uncommon in rural areas, so it won’t always be an option for homeowners.
Don’t confuse whole-house generators with portable generators. Both are made for homes and often made by the same brands, but portable generators are much smaller and don’t provide long-term or extensive backup power.
Portable generators are not connected to your home through a transfer switch or similar permanent setup. They only have enough wattage to power up a small room or a few important appliances for a limited amount of time. They also have limited fuel capacity, and can’t usually connect to a permanent fuel source like natural gas (gasoline models, on the other hand, are more common). Portable generators are more suitable for infrequent problems or powering up a workstation far from electrical grid connections.
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