Last month I spoke of ways to better be prepared for bad storms and other natural events that could require sheltering in our homes. Having food, water and medication are the big ones, but there are other handy things to make riding out the event easier.

For me having electricity in our home during a prolonged power outage is very important. Having power will keep your food cold, provide lighting and operate your heat source. In most cases you will need power to operate your well pump to provide water. Are we able to hunker down without electricity? Definitely, however, living is much easier with electrical power.

There are two basic kinds of generators: permanent stand-by and portable. The stand-by is wired to a changeover box that monitors your home’s electricity coming from the utility company. When the utility power is lost for more than several seconds, the changeover box will send a signal to start the generator. When the engine is sufficiently warmed the changeover box will remove the connection to the utility and connect to the generator.  This kind of generator has been common in police and fire stations for many years. Hospitals have huge generators that can power up the hospital in seconds. In the past several years generator manufacturers have designed units that are permanent stand-by sized for the average home. Most use propane as motor fuel. This option provides electrical energy without any intervention from the homeowner. They work great, but are a bit pricey to install.

For most families the power provided by a portable generator is sufficient to supply electricity through a storm and is much more cost effective.  

A portable generator is similar to a lawn mower in that they both use a gasoline engine to convert energy to do work for us. The gas lawn mower spins a blade and the generator makes electrical current.  Most people purchase a lawnmower relative to the size of the lawn; the generator is the same and must be sized properly to your home.

With electricity size does matter. A generator that is too small can damage appliances where a generator that is too large may waste fuel, but the appliances will love it. Electrical devices will only consume the energy needed to do the work they were designed to do. If more energy is available the generator will just work a little less. Generators are rated in watts or kilowatts (KW). One kilowatt is one thousand watts. Five kilowatts is five thousand watts, and so on.

A five KW generator will supply two 20 amp 110 volt outlets or one 20 amp 220 volt outlet. That would supply a refrigerator and a freezer and several lamps…and perhaps a video game. The plan would be to operate each appliance in turn to keep food cold or run your water pump. Supply the appliances with 14 gage extension cords from the generator. This is a common method used to supply 110 volt appliances without changing the wiring in your home. This works well, however, several heavy extension cords will need to be strung around your home. Very doable but, there is a better way.

For a few hundred dollars have an electrician install a manual changeover box in your home with an external electrical connection. Basically the generator power will connect through a twist lock plug mounted outside your home to your manual changeover box.  Move the switches on the box and the generator will supply power to the circuits inside your home. When the utility power is restored simply return the switches to the utility position and disconnect the generator. This will eliminate the need for extension cords. The wiring in your home will supply the electricity to your appliances with minimal intervention. Connect the generator, start the engine, flip the switches and you have power. This is a very safe and easy way to ride out a storm.

Earlier I compared a generator to a lawn mower. You would not operate the mower for many hours in your house or garage. Poisonous gas and noise, right? The generator is the same. Locate the generator at least 10 feet from your home with the exhaust pointing away. Pay attention to any exhaust odor in your home and move the generator further away if necessary.  Test the engine at least once a month and top off the fuel and oil.

If I haven’t bored you by this time perhaps you are thinking about generator size a bit. Consider what you want to operate, refrigerator, freezer, water pump and some lights is common. Without showing you the math, I would say 5KW is a minimum. If you plan to include your furnace consider 8KW. A good quality generator will last many years and supply clean well-regulated power to your home. Ours served us well for over twenty years.

Serving our community for most of my adult life has taught me that when the weather gets bad, the fire team and I will be out in it.  To help keep my family safe in my absence, we installed a permanent stand-by generator.
Hope this helps, be safe.