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Pick
the generator you’re going to need Add
up your wattage to make sure you’ll have enough back-up power By
R.D. Hohenfeldt If
the January ice storm in the Ozarks showed you the need for a back-up
generator, make sure you buy one big enough to handle both the starting
wattage and the running wattage of your appliances. “You’ve
got to know what the surge wattage is,” says John Jamison, owner of
Sears. “A 3,600-watt generator may not be able to handle everything
you want, especially if you’re going to keep your refrigerator/freezer
going.” To
figure out the size generator you need, you get a wattage reference
chart, pick out the items you want to power at the same time and list
both the running watts and the additional starting watt requirements of
each item. For
instance, if you want to run your refrigerator/freezer you’ll need 700
running watts and 2,200 additional starting watts. Let’s say you want
to have a color TV running, too, you’ll need 500 running watts but no
additional starting watts. A space heater takes 1,800 running watts and
no additional starting watts. A lamp takes 75 watts and no additional
starting watts.
The
3,600-watt generator sold by Jamison will handle 5,300 starting watts,
just enough to handle what you want in this case, but don’t plug in
another lamp. If
you have additional equipment that really needs to be running or have
power available, such as a sump pump or water well pump, you’ll need
to have a bigger generator. The 5,600-watt unit has 8,600 starting watts
available, and the 6,300-watt generator has 9,100 starting watts
available. “You’ve
also got to be aware of the run-time and size of the gasoline tank,”
says Jamison. “The large generator will run 13 hours on a half
load.” Jamison
also noted that some people will have a qualified electrician install a
switch box into the main electrical service of the home. “You
can then shut off completely the electrical main breaker so you can run
generator power into the house,” Jamison says. “You can designate
specific circuits to be served by the generator. People with gas
furnaces will get these so they can run the furnace blower.” Is
a generator worth the expense? After all, ice storms don’t happen very
often, nor do power-disrupting tornadoes in the spring. Purchase
of a generator is a choice an individual must weigh carefully, Jamison
says, but he noted that there are many other uses besides back-up for
power outages. “They’re
very good to have when you go camping,” he says. People
might also find they need one for outdoor building projects. “It’s
not just for wintertime,” he says, adding that people with generators
find that not only do they find additional uses, other people do, too.
“I have loaned my 15-year-old generator out more than I have actually
used it myself.”
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Add
up the running watts of the items you want to run. In this case,
that’s 700 for the refrigerator, 500 for the color TV, 1,800 for the
space heater and 75 for the lamp with one light bulb. Total for that is
3,075. Then you add in the running watts of the items you wish to power.
In this case, it’s 2,200 for the refrigerator. That adds up to 5,275.
You’ll need a generator that produces at least this many total
starting watts.