Portable generators will serve you well enough for short power outages, but if you’re in a part of town where power doesn’t always come back on quickly - or you don’t want to ration your power during an outage - a home standby generator will provide more reliable and long-term power for your entire house. It could be even more expensive than that because the price usually depends on the brand, the wattage and the features of the generators. You can read more about generator safety at Take It Outside, an informational site from The Portable Generator Manufacturers’ Association (PGMA). Generally, the cost for a typical 20kW whole house generator range from approximately 4,700 for a Generic standby generator to approximately 5,000 for a Cummins generator.Fuel stabilizer can also help your gasoline reserves last longer.
#Whole house generator manual#
Be sure to read the generator’s manual and keep up with any maintenance it requires - your generator may not come with motor oil, for example, and you’ll need to change its oil regularly.On the other hand, the installation cost should knock you back to the tune of 1,900 on average. You want to place it in open air, far away from windows and vents, since these generators produce odorless-but-deadly carbon monoxide. Thus, depending on the kind of whole house generator you purchase, the initial cost should range somewhere between 300 to 15,000. Never use a portable generator inside the house or even on a covered deck.While Buckley notes most of these are pretty user-friendly, he stresses the significance of proper safety precautions. Those are just a few selections - you can find options from the same brands in lower or higher wattages, if you need, with prices that'll match. This chart is a good starting point if you aren’t sure how much wattage you need. So, as you shop for the best generator for you, tally up how many watts of power you’ll need and buy accordingly.
That said, both types of generators vary in how much power they can put out.