If I got a generator for my house to be prepared for a power outage (California wildfire country) – how does that work? Do I have to run extension chords from any appliances I want on generator power? Is there a way to connect a generator to the house so that lights work?
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As has been mentioned, they work in many different ways.
One thing I’d caution is that generators may not have the “cleanest” power; for lights it’s generally not a problem, but for sensitive electronics it could be. The “best” solution is an actual backup battery bank that can be recharged by generator- this is my mom’s off-the-grid solution in combo with her solar panels. Her house runs off the batteries; in the summer they recharge by solar panel; when there hasn’t been enough sun to recharge enough, she has a small generator that will charge them.
This is a bit different than a grid-tied system. For one, because she isn’t tied to the grid at all, everything in the house is designed to be as low power usage as possible. Fridge/freezer and stove and water heater are all propane; house heat is a wood stove. For two, she has a whole battery bank and inverter and intelligent charge manager for handling everything.
Understand that an average generator can’t supply nearly enough power for your average residential home needs. The other commenter that has a small sub-panel with just the essentials is that probably the best solution if you don’t want to buy massive generator.
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