Start with what has to stay on
Generac's sizing guide says most homes should size around the appliances and systems they want running during an outage, not square footage alone. It groups loads in three levels:
- Essentials: refrigerator and freezer, lights, internet, phone chargers and the sump pump.
- Comforts: things like the microwave and the garage door.
- Heavy hitters: central air, an electric range or oven, a well pump, an EV charger and an electric dryer.
Generac's air-cooled home standby generators run from 10 kW to 28 kW. The guide puts 18 kW to 22 kW as the sweet spot for a home around 2,000 square feet, and says a 1,550 square foot home can often get by with a 10 kW to 14 kW unit and one or two load managers.
Sizing starts with a list of what matters to youHeat decides a lot in Lincoln
In a Nebraska January, the question that matters most is how the house is heated. The Census Bureau's American Community Survey counts about 78,000 Lincoln homes heating with utility gas and about 42,400 heating with electricity. A gas furnace only needs power for its blower and controls. An electric furnace or heat pump is a heavy load, and sizing for it changes the whole answer.
Tell us when you call. A heat pump or electric furnace is the first thing we size around, because it's the load you'll miss most on a night below zero.
How we size it
On the site visit we walk the house with you, list your must-haves, look at the panel and the big appliances, and check the gas meter or propane tank. Then we recommend a size and tell you whether a load manager makes sense. You get the recommendation and the price in writing.
