There is nothing as aggravating than loosing electrical power for a few hours, or worse a few days. Unfortunately power outages are more frequent and last more than a few hours. During heavy windstorms of winter power can be out from a few days to several weeks. The only way to insure that you will have electric power during a power outage is to have an emergency generator for your home.

Home generators range widely in price and quality. There seems to be at least a dozen different manufacturers of home generators from small portable to large built in units. There are essentially two types of generators that are sold for home use; standby and portable.

Home standby generators are normally permanently installed in an enclosure that is near your home’s main electrical panel. The portable home generators are mobile and are taken out of storage and hook up to the house when there is a power outage.

These generators are powered by propane, natural gas, or gasoline. It the home is normally heated with propane or natural gas it is best to power the generator using the same fuel. If you do not have propane or natural gas you can still have a home generator powered by propane gas by installing a storage tank for the fuel. Most portable home generators are powered by gasoline.

Portable generators are popular because they are light and easy to move around. When they are not in use as an emergency power source for the home they can also be used for recreational purposes such as camping or boating. They are light weight and are easy to move about. Most of them are mounted on a wheel frame for easy portability.

Portable home generators have 120/240 volt outlets on the unit itself where you can plug your appliances directly into the outlets or the generator can be wired to a subpanel to power emergency circuits such as a refrigerator, heating system, a few lights and a well pump. With these essentials a near normal life can be maintained during prolonged power outages. The ideas emergency portable home generator would be a unit that has at least an output of 9,000 watt capacity. Such a generator will cost upward from $1100.

If you preferred a permanently installed home emergency generator to power the whole house you need one with a much larger output capacity. A 14 k to 17 k output capacity will power a mid-size house without any difficulty and will cost upward from $3,000.

When shopping for a home generator check prices in several different places before buying as the price varies greatly. If you intend to power essential home electrical circuits with an emergency generator you can purchase the appropriate equipment from any home improvement supply center or electrical supply outlet.

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