DR ChasSmith - will your generator operate everything in your home, or just select priority appliances?
This is a 17,000-watt one which is a decent if not humongous size, and you have to learn ways of thinking about what you're going to run. These can handle "whole house", but in reality you would never want to put the kind of demand on it like you could with the normal power coming into the house; i.e., literally run EVERYTHING at once. I'll need to learn what draws what kind of power, and not pull too much more than half the generator's capacity at one time. You need the excess to be available for the heavy start-up demands of furnace, fridge, freezer, water pump, etc.
So, this will handle the furnace, water pump, the main appliances, and a fair number of lights and small things and probably one LCD TV. That might even be a conservative estimate. At this point the central a/c isn't recommended because it's an old and inefficient unit, but that's fine with me. I want winter survival and comfort, and can suffer a few days without a/c in the summer as long as everything else is working. I'd also leave the good plasma TV and stereo amps, etc., off, and enjoy lesser pleasures during a power outage. I have no problem "cutting back". The electric clothes dryer might be a bit of a challenge, too, not sure about that. But there are all kinds of ways to go easy on a generator while living a pretty normal lifestyle. If you want to use one heavy demand item, you can cut back on something else in the meantime.
I can't answer the question any better till the electrician and I have had a good sit-down on it, and till I've done my own research on literally every electrical device in the house so that I can exercise good judgment. That little study is actually going to be kind of interesting.
