What Size Generator is Needed to Power a House

If your question is “what size of generator is needed to power a house”, you’re in the right place for genguide is going to give you all the things you need to know on what size of generator is needed to power a house.

The size of appliances used at home is different from the one use at business place. So for you to get the best out there size of generator you need, calculate the appliances in the house and go for the size of generator watts or more above the calculated appliance. This is because the size of the generator is based on the type of appliances you’re using.

To determine your basic home power needs, start by answering the following questions, this question will help know what size of generator is needed to power a house:

• Are you leaving in a single or more?
• What are the appliances that you’re using?
• Do you have fridge, freezer or Air Condition?
• Have you determine the power required by an appliance at home?

When thinking of the size of generator needed to power a house, have it in mind that homeowners can often power most household appliances using the power range between 3000 and 6500 watts.

If the appliances in your home are smaller, you can generally expect power ranging between 3000-6500 watts as stated above in order to cover your needs. While if you have larger appliances in your house, you will likely need a power range between 6500 watt generator and more.

The size of the generator is based on the type of appliances, equipment, pumps, air-conditioners and other electrical devices requiring power. Your service panel is normally rated at 200 amps @ 240 volts and the average home uses approximately 140 to 160 amps of 240 volts power to operate everything at the same time. Same logic apply to business when thinking of what size of generator is needed to power a small business or larger business.

How to Calculate What Size Generator I Need

To calculate what size of generator you need, pay close attention for what genguide have for you. Since your service panel is normally rated at 200 amps which are at 240 volts and the average home uses appliances are approximately 140 to 160 amps of 240 volts power to operate everything at the same time at home.

Larger appliances at home such as well pump, kitchen stove, water heater, electric dryer, electric heater and heat pump system will typically use up to 240 volts power and the lights and other smaller appliances will use 120 volt power.  Genguide advise that It is very important to consider this difference in doing the load calculations first. The important of this calculation is to determine how many amps and watts you will need to run your home.

Using this examples will guide you more, if you have a refrigerator and want to operate it together with the following appliance at follows, the calculation will look like this (20 amps x 120 volts = 2400 watts), for freezer (20 amps x 120 volts = 2400 watts), electric water heater (20 amps x 240 volts = 4800 watts), washing machine (20 amps x 120 volts = 2,400 watts) and electric dryer (30 amps x 240 volts = 7200 watts). For all these appliances to be in use all at the same time, you will need approximately 19,200 watts to meet the breaker requirements for these appliances.

Note: Typically, the breakers are oversized for safety by 10% to 15% and the above appliances will not all operate at point at the same time and the above load can be handled with a 15,000 watt (15 kW) generator.

The major appliances that you need to operate with your generator should be considered when calculating the minimum size of generator you’re to buy. To get the best out of your generator requires you to honestly assess your needs and wants.

Also See: All You Should Know About Generator