Systems
Home Generator Sizing Calculator
Pick how much of the house you want to keep running during an outage. Storm-season power cuts are a fact of Triangle life, and a standby generator covers them.
At a glance
- What you enter
- What do you want to power?
- Accuracy
- Rule of thumb
About 3-7 kW
Roughly 3-7 kW, a portable or small standby generator. Central AC and electric heat are the big loads; an electrician tallies your actual circuits and starting watts.
A rough guide. Electric heat, central AC, and well pumps have high starting loads that drive the size up; an electrician does a proper load tally and handles the transfer switch and permit.
Systems
Oversized is its own kind of broken
An air conditioner with too much capacity short-cycles, never pulls the humidity out, and wears itself down early. In a Carolina summer that matters more than the raw tonnage.
How this is worked out
No hidden fudge factor. This is the whole calculation.
- You enter what do you want to power?.
- That runs through a rule of thumb calibrated for the North Carolina climate.
- It is a starting point for the conversation, not the calculation a licensed pro performs.
Common questions
- Home Generator Sizing: how do I choose the right size?
- Pick how much of the house you want to keep running during an outage. Storm-season power cuts are a fact of Triangle life, and a standby generator covers them. It's a rule-of-thumb starting point; a licensed pro does the exact calculation for your home.