Connecting a generator for emergency home power

Hospitals have huge generators with automatic transfer switches that start their generators and switch the entire hospital to generator power in case of an electrical power failure.

You can have an electrician install a transfer switch for your home generator. But I’m going to assume that you don’t do that; you’re just going to run a portable generator without connecting it to your home’s electrical breaker box.

When discussing portable generators, I suggested getting a small one because it uses less fuel. Storing fuel for a generator is a fire hazard, so the less fuel you need to store the better.

But a small generator, in the 900-watt to 2,500-watt range, cannot produce enough electricity to power your home. You cannot run the electric heat, air conditioning, or water heater, each of which requires thousands of watts. You might not be able to run your big microwave oven or even one burner on your electric stove.

What you could power are some electric lamps, a radio or television set, a computer, some electric fans, and perhaps a small refrigerator or small microwave oven.

You must place your generator where the exhaust fumes go outdoors. The fumes are poisonous. This may mean that you put your generator outdoors in the back yard with a big chain and padlock securing it to something impossible to move. 

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