Just another thought on the Generac. You have to have natural gas service to run it. I'm in the older section of our neighborhood and don't but the newer section does. I 'd also like to look into an on demand water heater but again no gas.
Ok now lets talk storm panels for the windows Jeez --- lets get back to music.

Don, sadly we don't have Natural gas here in my neighborhood either but we have a 250lb propane tank (in the woods out of sight) courtesy of the gas company (they own the tanks). Normally, one filling lasts us a year but we don't use the fireplaces much (bedroom, family room, living room) so it's mostly just the gas range for cooking. Hook up a line to your grill and one to the generator and you still will probably only have to top it off once a year. I don't know of anyone that has installed one that regretted it and if you sell your house, it's a good selling point. Like I said, it's probably one of the cheapest worthwhile upgrades to a house you can get. All the new whole house gens are equipped with wi-fi.

chas

Bill, the model I ordered will run on LP or natural gas. In fact, the same model generates 22,000 watts when fueled by propane and 18,000 with natural gas. So not a problem.

chas

I moved into my house 20 years ago. My house in the country had numerous power outages. Since the power is all underground, there has never been a power outage in the new home (been there 20 years). I did buy 4 Harbor Freight gas generators; one for me and one for my three kids. Each will power a fridge, electric stove, computer and about 12 outlets. We all have fireplaces.

Just a little insurance we hope we will never need.My mechanical minded son does regular testing and maintenance every 90 days.

Russ

Chas, that 22,000-watts sounds like a bit of overkill to me. Have you ever had your power consumption checked out to see what you actually draw? I run 3,500 square feet of house with central air, electric stove, big refrigerator, couple of flat screen TVs and two PCs on 6,500 watts. And, that also includes the power to run our well pump, which is a 3/4-HP electric submersible pump placed 550 feet beneath the ground. When the well pump kicks on, the lights dim slightly for a couple seconds, but that's about it. The gasoline generator runs forever on 6 gallons of gas. We have a 30-amp connection to the generator that is positioned beneath our deck and a connection to an inlet on the adjacent wall that feeds directly to a knife switch next to our 200-amp service box.

Our heating system is oil-fired, hot-water baseboard for the main level and the basement family room is heated with a ventless, propane, gas log fireplace. Our hot water is fed through the boiler used for the heat, and has a summer/winter hookup system. It heats ice cold water to 160 degrees in less than 3 minutes. No electric hot water tank to contend with and the first boiler lasted us 36 years before it had to be replaced. Replacement cost was about $3,000, which included labor for installation.

Good luck,

Gary

Looks like storms the rest of the day and into the night here. So far nothing severe near us, but lots of rain.

Gary, you are missing one point.. Like myself , Chas is total electric (almost), I am total electric. I average more than 4,000KWh during winter..

I would say at least 15,000 watts generator would be needed for total electric for my house.. 2,500 sq feet.
2 heat pumps, 2 electic hot water heaters, range, two refrigerators, 5 TV's 2 microwaves, Jacuzzi, dish washer,2 laundry units(2 dryers and 2 washers), Music studio gear etc

I do have a 4,500 watt power inverter for emergency.

Fran, if you only draw 4,000 KWH during the winter months, then my 6,800-watt generator would run your entire home with 2,800-watts to spare.

Gary

Gary we are not on the same page


Here are specs of my electric uses (only ten)
You can see that your generator can not do the job at all.. Even if both heat pumps run, it is over 12,000 watts


Heat pump 6,000 watts (x2)

dish washer 1,200 watts

micro wave oven 1,450 watts (x2)

range 12,200 watts

lights 4,000 watts

dryer 4,856 watts (x2)

washer 512 watts (x2)

water heater 4,500 watts (x2)

color TV 200 watts (x5)

Refrigerator 615 watts (x2)



KWh is usage.. watts are the power supply (needed)