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Can portable generator power the whole house?

Posted on 10/13/25 at 6:40 pm
Posted by Dale Murphy
God's Country
Member since Feb 2005
24887 posts
Posted on 10/13/25 at 6:40 pm
Ready to take the generator plunge and want one that will power the whole house. Or at least downstairs and the pool.
What is the benefit of installing one vs paying half the cost for a portable? Both generate 26k.
Is it simply just the ease of it? Automatically turns on, etc?
Posted by baseballmind1212
Missouri City
Member since Feb 2011
3378 posts
Posted on 10/13/25 at 6:55 pm to
Depending on the size of your house...

You could easily get a big portable tri fuel (Duramax sells a 15kw) with a short ft start on your AC unit and run your whole house.

You would probably need to cycle your pool pump to be sure not to kick it on at the same time as another high amperage device.

You are paying for convenience with the whole home generator.

You can get 90% of the results for 50% of the cost.
Posted by kengel2
Team Gun
Member since Mar 2004
33437 posts
Posted on 10/13/25 at 7:06 pm to
In addition to home size/natural gas or all electric/etc etc.


What level of comfort do you want? Considering youll only use this when the power is out, do you want to use your pool? Want to host a party or all of your family?

Or do you just want to get by and maybe have some AC?
Posted by Dale Murphy
God's Country
Member since Feb 2005
24887 posts
Posted on 10/13/25 at 7:11 pm to
4500 sq ft house with gas. But a big chunk is upstairs and I’m not so concerned with that. Main reason I’m ready to get one is because we don’t close our pool down in the winter. Every year we get about a 3 day hard freeze that terrifies me. I know I could just get a portable one for that. But we’ve also been without power in the summer for over a week. And I’m all about ease which is why I’m leaning toward just getting one installed.
Posted by Art Vandelay
LOUISIANA
Member since Sep 2005
11392 posts
Posted on 10/13/25 at 7:37 pm to
I run my whole house on a generac 17500. I’m about 4200 living. I run downstairs during the day and then we all sleep upstairs at night. Pool is no problem. Mostly just to not burn too much fuel. 100 gallons gets me about 5 days. My house has a 50 amp manual switch.

I did the math and just could not justify the cost of a nice liquid cooled which is really what I need. Plus there were problems with natural gas demand in the neighborhoods. 3500 for the generator and stored in my shed. It’s “portable” but it’s a beast.
Posted by RedheadedStepchild
Member since Oct 2016
192 posts
Posted on 10/13/25 at 9:03 pm to
I went that route. Electrician installed a 50amp outlet. I have a 13k duramax. Soft start on bith ac units. I can only run 1 unit at a time. 2 story house. Fraction of the cost
Posted by xBirdx
Member since Sep 2018
2159 posts
Posted on 10/13/25 at 10:09 pm to
Yea but you pay $300 a week to run it.

While
Home would
Be much cheaper…
So dependent upon how much you use it… starts to be more practical
Posted by Art Vandelay
LOUISIANA
Member since Sep 2005
11392 posts
Posted on 10/14/25 at 8:30 am to
quote:

Yea but you pay $300 a week to run it. While Home would Be much cheaper… So dependent upon how much you use it… starts to be more practical
yes but don’t think running a natural gas is exponentially cheaper. I don’t know but google says $60-120 day for a 24kw. Thats if they don’t crap out because the whole neighborhood is sucking gas.
Posted by bootlegger
Ponchatoula
Member since Dec 2012
5499 posts
Posted on 10/14/25 at 8:33 am to
Posted by Hangover Haven
Metry
Member since Oct 2013
31871 posts
Posted on 10/14/25 at 8:41 am to
Yes, I power my whole house with a Firrman 7.5 KW. Just can't run the big A/C. I put in window units.

Unfortunately, I only have a 30 AMP hookup. May change it to a 50 amp in the future.

Ran it for 10 days after Ida...

This post was edited on 10/14/25 at 8:47 am
Posted by SETH6180
TEXAS
Member since Feb 2020
742 posts
Posted on 10/14/25 at 9:26 am to
I have the Honda EU7000iS. Ran a 30 amp plug in my breaker panel. Run my downstairs A/C during day and upstairs when sleeping along with everything else in the house. 5 gallons of gas lasts 18-20 hours when running the central units. I've got a lot of run time before I equal the costs of a whole home. Generator was used at my hunting camp that I've since sold so it's been repurposed. Highly recommend the Honda, quiet and starts every time.
Posted by DownshiftAndFloorIt
Here
Member since Jan 2011
70878 posts
Posted on 10/14/25 at 10:22 am to
quote:

Both generate 26k


26kW is a shitload for a house.

I run my 1800 sq ft house on a 9k. Now, that takes some know-how and we can't just completely live like nothing is happening. I have to start everything in a certain order to get it all online, and I have to manage the central air switching manually, but I have about $700 in my whole home generator setup. For something that gets used for a couple hours every 10 years, it's fine.
Posted by lsujro
north of the wall
Member since Jul 2007
4083 posts
Posted on 10/14/25 at 10:55 am to
I spent about $5k buying a 13kw trifuel generator, having a 50amp line run to the side of my house, running a 1" gas line, and moving a few breakers between panels. My generator runs on nat gas and powers all of the essentials in my house. I had two panels - the generator can only power what's on one of them, hence the moving of breakers. Soft start wouldn't work on my a/c for some reason which is a wrench in that part of my plan, but otherwise I think this is a great way to do it. That said, if you have the $, it's awfully convenient when those whole home generators just kick on automatically
Posted by Boomer 3
Member since May 2022
11 posts
Posted on 10/14/25 at 2:00 pm to
Maybe consider isolating your emergency loads to an emergency panel. It's not that difficult, then have the generator sized for your emergency circuits.
Posted by DVinBR
Member since Jan 2013
15203 posts
Posted on 10/14/25 at 2:29 pm to
quote:

Both generate 26k.


In order to get more than 12k with a portable is by installing dual 50A generator inlets, even that limits you to 24k
Posted by Craft
Member since Oct 2019
852 posts
Posted on 10/14/25 at 10:21 pm to
Somebody told me I had to put a 200amp transfer switch but I have that firman that we all bought off eBay 5 years ago. Was that necessary? I see yall saying you have 30-50 amp and I’m not confident this firman can even run an AC
Posted by Saintsisit
Member since Jan 2013
5046 posts
Posted on 10/15/25 at 5:56 am to
quote:

You could easily get a big portable tri fuel (Duramax sells a 15kw) with a short ft start on your AC unit and run your whole house.


This is exactly what I have.

It helps if your water heater and stove are natural gas.
Posted by magicman534
The dirty dell
Member since May 2011
1794 posts
Posted on 10/15/25 at 9:18 am to
I use a predator 8250 inverter gen to run my whole house. 2800 sq foot house. One ac on bedroom side and one on living. Hard start kits in both. I alternate running them. Everything else in the house is gas.
Posted by RetiredSaintsLsuFan
NW Arkansas
Member since Jun 2020
2155 posts
Posted on 10/16/25 at 7:48 am to
For my modest (1,500+sf) home I use two separate setups for when the power goes out. I have a WEN gas 4,250 watt generator that I connect to an interlock that powers everything in the house except the AC unit. I also have an Ecoflow Delta Pro that is connected to a six circuit transfer switch. This is powered by four solar panels that are on my shed. I use this on sunny days suppling power to those six circuits. This system is easily expandable with battery storage and solar panels. I can also charge the Delta Pro with my generator. I have a smaller Ecoflow Delta 2 just in case. All of this cost about $6,000.

I switched my electric stove and water heater to propane over a year ago. My plan for an extended power outage is to use the generator during the daytime and the Delta Pro during the nighttime. At some point I plan on getting a dual powered generator and an additional propane tank just for it.
This post was edited on 10/16/25 at 7:53 am
Posted by Craft
Member since Oct 2019
852 posts
Posted on 10/16/25 at 7:52 am to
quote:

I also have n Ecoflow Delta Pro that is connected to a six circuit transfer switch. This is powered by four solar panels that are on my shed. I use this on sunny days suppling power to those six circuits. This system is easily expandable with my power storage. I can also charge the Delta Pro with my generator. I also have a smaller Ecoflow Delta 2 just in case. All of this cost about $6,000.


This awesome haha
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