How to Power Your Home With a Portable Generator

Too many times have I heard from people who plugged their generator directly into a wall outlet to power their home. This is not only extremely dangerous, it's illegal! Do NOT plug into a wall outlet with your generator. This is called backfeeding, and it can be deadly for power line workers.

To power your home with a portable generator, you have to use what is called a power transfer system. It allows you to run the generated power into your circuit board properly. Remember though, if you don't have a powerful enough generator, you won't be able to power your whole house. You can instead turn on only the rooms you are able to power.

Another important thing to remember is that you want to keep your generator outside and away from any windows or doors while it's running. Generators produce carbon monoxide, which is very deadly. Carbon monoxide can build up in your home very rapidly if you have your generator running in your garage, inside your home or basement, or even outside a window or door where it can seep in.

Keep your generator a fair distance away and run a heavy-duty generator cord to the transfer switch inside.

If your main electric panel is installed inside your garage, you've lucked out. Running to an electric panel in a garage is the easiest and least expensive option. Purchase a transfer system compatible with your generator, and have an electrician install it for you.

If your electric main panel is in your basement, you have a couple of options to choose from. you can either run a power cord through an open basement window, or you can mount a power inlet box on the outside of your house near your electrical panel.

The second of those options is better as you could imagine. The power inlet box is then hardwired into your manual transfer switch.

When the power goes out, you just have to run an extension cord from the generator to the power inlet box, flip a few switches and you're back up and running with backup power.

A standard transfer switch installation takes around 3-4 hours and will only cost about $200-$300. While that may seem like a lot, it's a worthwhile investment when the power goes out and you've got less to worry about.

Pick a Size - But Not Any Size

As you're shopping portable generators for the first time, you may find yourself overwhelmed with options. Your first question will likely be "What size generator do I need?"

The size of the generator will usually reflect its power. If you need more starting amperage to get powered up, you're going to likely need a bigger portable generator.

To determine how large of a generator you really need, you can follow the formula posted below.

Starting Amps x Volts = Watts

The starting amperage load will be much larger than the running load, which is why proper calculations need to be made to properly size your unit.

Because every home is different, I recommend having a certified electrician do your wattage calculation.

Is Hurricane Season 2013 Coming to an End?

So it's now mid-October, and we've yet to see a hurricane reach the United States. We all know hurricanes aren't a winter thing; so if it's starting to get cold, does that mean we're in the clear?

Well, we are closer to an "all-clear," but the official end of the hurricane season is November 30th.

While we haven't been hit by a hurricane yet this year, we saw tropical storm Andrea do its damage, and we've also seen the heavy snowfall on South Dakota wreak havoc on their economy.

Hurricane or not, a major storm of any kind can down power lines and put things out of service.  If you live in a hurricane prone area, you may want a home standby generator. If that's more than you're looking for, you should at least have a semi-professional portable generator on hand. If you don't and you're without power for more than a day, you'll start seeing your groceries spoil. At least have a small portable generator for powering your refrigerator, some light, and perhaps your television for weather and news updates. 

If you live in an area that rarely gets severe storms, you may be fine with just having a smaller emergency portable generator for rare situations where you may be left without power for a few days. If you live in an area that is at much higher risk for power outages or hurricanes, you want at least a semi-professional generator capable of restoring power to your home for longer periods of time.

So while it's getting colder and we haven't seen a hurricane yet, don't assume we're all clear yet. Dry air and wind shear are fending off the hurricanes for now, neutralizing and shaving the tops off of the growing storms as they approach, but the season's only half over.


The 2013 hurricane season isn't over yet, and surface temperatures are very warm. So there's still potential for an active hurricane season. All it takes is a single cyclone reaching land to cause a major disaster. Those living on the Atlantic Coast should take advantage of this time to create a disaster plan and invest in a quality electric generator capable of powering necessities in a power outage.