What Size Residential Backup Generator Will Keep My AC Running?
Introduction
If recent weather conditions across the country have helped you make up your mind to install a residential backup generator, you are probably at the point of deciding what size generator you need. There are tons of wattage calculators out there, which can be used as a loose gauge for your home’s power needs, but they aren’t exact. The safest and most accurate way to measure how much power you will need from your residential backup generator is to have an electrician do it for you. The first thing you will need to do is determine which circuits, appliances, and electronics you will want your residential backup generator to power in an outage. Do you want just the bare necessities, or do you want your whole house to stay powered so you and your family can weather a storm in comfort? The decision is completely up to you, and obviously, the more things you choose to power the higher your initial cost will be.
One benchmark for comfort is definitely the home’s HVAC unit. It is also one of the biggest users of kW’s for your residential backup generator, because appliances with a motor can use up to three times as much power to start up than they do to continue running, and the residential backup generator must be able to accommodate this startup surge of power.
Keep reading for more about the different sizes of HVAC units and what size residential backup generators can power them.
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