The generator decision handbook
Backup power is not one decision. It is a sequence of them, and most of the frustration comes from being asked to make a later one — which model, which quote — before the earlier ones have been settled. This handbook follows the sequence in order.
It sells nothing and recommends no equipment. Where a determination belongs to a licensed professional, it says so and stops.
Where am I in the decision?
Find the stage that matches the question you are actually stuck on. Each stage names what you can work out yourself and what genuinely requires someone qualified.
Considering backup power
Is backup power worth investigating for this property at all?
You can settle: What losing power actually costs this household, how often and how long it happens here, and who is home when it does.
A professional settles: Nothing yet. This stage is about whether to spend time on the question, not about equipment.
- Should I get a home backup generator? — Whether this household should spend further time and money investigating backup power, or resolve something else first.
Comparing system types
Which broad category of backup power fits how this household lives?
You can settle: Whether the household needs automatic operation, how long an outage has to last before it matters, and who would physically operate a manual system.
A professional settles: Whether a given category can actually be installed at this property, and at what scope.
- Standby generator or portable generator? — Whether this household needs equipment that operates without anyone present, or can rely on equipment a person sets up and runs.
- Generator or battery backup? — Whether this household's exposure is to short interruptions, which stored energy handles well, or to long outages, where the deciding question becomes how the system gets replenished.
- Whole-home backup or essential loads only? — How much of the house this household is buying coverage for, stated precisely enough that two proposals can be compared.
Understanding property constraints
What about this specific property changes the answer?
You can settle: What fuel already reaches the property, which loads matter most, where equipment could physically go, and which equipment details are still unknown.
A professional settles: Whether the electrical service, the fuel supply, and a candidate location are adequate. None of that can be settled from a web page.
- Natural gas or propane for a home standby generator? — Which fuel path this property should be priced against, based on what already exists here and what each option would depend on during an outage.
- Home load priority worksheet — Which household loads this family treats as non-negotiable, and which equipment details are still missing.
Preparing for and comparing quotes
Am I comparing two comparable proposals, or two different projects?
You can settle: Whether each proposal documents the same scope, and which items are missing, excluded, assumed, or left as an allowance.
A professional settles: Equipment selection, sizing, transfer-equipment design, and every price in the document.
- What drives the cost of a standby generator project? — Which scopes this particular project contains, so that a price difference between two proposals can be traced to a scope difference rather than guessed at.
- How to compare generator quotes — Whether the proposals in hand describe the same project, and if not, what has to be answered before any price comparison means anything.
- Generator quote decoder — Whether the proposals in hand are complete enough to compare, and exactly which questions to send back.
Planning the installation
What has to be settled, and by whom, before work starts?
You can settle: Access, timing, occupancy, what the household needs restored afterwards, and which responsibilities are still unassigned.
A professional settles: Permits, inspections, utility coordination, and every determination about placement and connection.
- Permits, inspections, and who approves a generator installation — Which approval tracks this installation touches, and which party is responsible for carrying each one.
- Installation readiness brief — Which responsibilities and property determinations are still unassigned as installation approaches.
Maintaining ownership records
Do I have the documentation this system will need for the rest of its life?
You can settle: What documents exist, what is missing, and what has been observed since installation.
A professional settles: Service, adjustment, and anything requiring the equipment to be opened.
- What to do before calling for generator service — What to record and have ready before a technician is called, and whether this is a service call or something that needs a faster response.
- Act now, monitor, or wait until the next service — How urgently an observation needs acting on: today, at the next scheduled service, or by recording it and watching.
Preparing for outages
Is this household ready for the next outage, and what is unsafe to attempt?
You can settle: Household preparation, documentation, and knowing which conditions mean stop and call for help.
A professional settles: Any response involving fuel, exhaust, wiring, standing water, or equipment that is not behaving as documented.
No chapter is published for this stage yet. Nothing is shown here rather than filling the gap with material that has not been written and checked. If you already own a unit and something specific is wrong, the symptom library documents individual faults against manufacturer sources.
Repairing or replacing an existing system
Does this system need diagnosis, repair evaluation, or replacement planning?
You can settle: What has been observed, what the records show, and what to bring to a professional evaluation.
A professional settles: The diagnosis itself, the condition of the equipment, and whether repair is worthwhile.
- Repair or replace your standby generator — Whether this generator warrants a repair conversation or a replacement conversation when you next speak to a qualified technician.
- Warranty repair or out of pocket: finding out which — Who determines whether this repair is covered, and what to establish before authorising any work that might not be.
What can I work out on paper?
These organise what you already know into something a contractor can price against. They run in the browser, keep nothing, and send nothing anywhere.
- Home load priority worksheet — Turn a vague sense of what matters into a written, prioritised list plus an explicit inventory of what you still have to look up.
- Generator quote decoder — Record, item by item, what each proposal documents — and generate the questions for whatever it does not.
- Installation readiness brief — Produce one printable document listing what is settled, what is unassigned, and which determinations still need a qualified professional.
What needs a qualified professional?
Equipment selection and sizing, whether an electrical service or a fuel supply is adequate, where equipment may be placed, how it is connected, and whether any of it meets the requirements that apply at the property. This handbook does not make those determinations and no page here should be read as making one.
It also does not diagnose equipment. If something is already installed and behaving strangely, that is a job for someone with hands on the unit.
What should I do next?
If you are at the beginning, start with whether a home backup generator is worth considering. If you already have proposals in hand, go straight to comparing them.
When you have done enough of that work to describe the project, you can ask for local help.