For Christ’s sake yall!!!!
12500 Watson is 10amps at 125 volts ac.
That doesn’t power much in today’s homes.
It is 100 amps at 12 volts dc..DC... which can power quite a bit.
I have a 9.5 kw genset. It reliably powers a fridge, freezer, TV, internet router, and a lamp or two.
We have a generator that can handle 7500 watts steady with surges to handle 10,200 watts max. We have it set to handle two fridges, a small upright freezer, the furnace, a few outlets in the kitchen, the tv, and a convection microwave. We have a transfer switch for the inside items, but the second fridge and freezer in the garage we have to plug in ourselves. So it sounds like yours can handle quite a bit more than what we are able to cover.
Is it logged in?
You need to notify the utility company.
If it isn’t a “break then make” switch you could back feed during a storm outage.
Your electrician could do this for you.
The generator has a 100 foot extension cord with a 220 plug at the gen side and a 220 clothes dryer plug at the remote end.
the generator is positioned out of earshot (quiet running anyway) and convenient to the laundry window.
In a power outage, I shut down my main breaker box, disconnecting my house from the external electric supply.
I move the dryer away from the wall and plug the dryer plug end of the extension cord into the dryer wall socket
THIS IS CALLED BACK FEEDING
When I start my generator, it is feeding 220 into my entire house via the clothes dryer wall socket.
I can have lights, low wattage microwave (it wants 1200W but doesn't get it)
I have a $100 Best Buy 7W TV that plugs into the regular 110 wall socket so we have TV
We have back-up kero (actually we use diesel) wick space heaters that provider warmth.
We've never had outages longer than 4 days and we've survived with boiled water food (over the space heaters . . . perfect cook stoves . . . sort of) ... Ramen, eggs, hot dogs, etc.
Everyone should have cases of water to drink and every laundry jug and etc filled with water to flush the toilet.
Water can be (has been) warmed hotly over the space heaters for washing up etc.
Depends but the easiest way is a simple generator / load switch unless you want all that automated crap. Mine has wifi as well and I said no to that crap.
Best set up12.5k watt you’re good with a 50amp plug or hardwire direct to a generator / load switch: Simple load position meaning you’re on power from whatever company you have and then generator position when the power goes out and it protects the line guys when their working.
I added lights to mine. Normal power I have a green light always on. Power goes out it’s out. I switch to generator it light up red. If the power is restored both lights illuminate red and green then I can switch over and shut the generator down and red light goes off.
12.5k will run a lot but if you have a heat pump etc the you could run into surge issues when it starts. I’ve got a 16k watt but still shut the heat pump off. My main concern is refrigerator, freezer, hot water tank and well pump. Got a fireplace and gas stove so heat wasn’t an issue for me.
Good luck!
You need a licensed electrician to advise you. Period. You don’t go on FR, a political website, seeking answers to questions involving electrical connections of any kind.
You could get hurt or worse blindly following advice from anyone on this site foolish enough to respond to you technically.
Electricity can kill.
Having said that, didn’t the generator come with an instruction manual? That might be a good place to start.
It will power your whole house.
Unless you got people living there that turn everything on and leave it on. Or you got a house like some richster has.
A small battery tender to keep the battery happy. I have a couple around.
https://www.amazon.com/Automatic-Trickle-Battery-Charger-1000mA/dp/B074Z2NFWW
https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-021-0123-Junior-Charger/dp/B000CITK8S
One is on my generator, one is on my scooter.
YOu will be able to run everyting but your AC.
Don’t buy anything.
Call your closest Generac dealer and they’ll take care of everything. At least, that’s how it worked for us.
One of the best purchases ever. Whole-house standby, clicks on one or two seconds after the power goes off.
Some may need to use more appliances during a power outage while some may be enough with having just a few of them running. But in general, a generator that can provide between 5,000 and 7,500 watts would be enough to power a house.
1. Call a licensed electrician or three
2. Tell them what you want to do and what you have
3. Ask them if they can do that and how much they charge
4. If you need any parts they will tell you.
I did something like that a couple of years ago. My Gen is smaller (9500) but is tri-fuel. It can run off of natural gas, too, and that’s why I got it.
I can switch from the utility to the Gen by simply flipping the transfer switch from one to the other and everything in the house works. No need for extension chords or fiddling with breakers.
A 12500 watt generation will be sufficient to run your whole, just don’t run, all the stove burners, the oven, the microwave, the electric clothes drier and a hair drier ALL at the same time. ;) Check out how much power each one of those require (Google will tell you) - you’d be surprised how far 12500 go.
And see if you can get your Gen to handle natural gas. (do some googling). Then you’ll be able to hook it up directly to your nat gas line and not worry about running out of fuel or dealing with stinky, dangerous gasoline or messing with propane tanks. That was one of the decision I made I’m most happy about.
The other is using a transfer switch to easily select the utility or Gen as the source. Works like a charm. There is no difference in how the house runs whether the gen or the utility is the source.
Good luck!
I have a 20KW Generac that runs the entire house when the power go’s off which happens often.
Recently had to use it for four hours during a Wide area blackout in October. The machine worked great.
I'll install it properly someday but we're ok as is for now.
Also got 200 lbs of propane and working on a rocket stove for a back up to the back up.
I don’t tie mine to the home electric. I just run extension cords any ware I need them. I figured a clever way to bring the power in without keeping a door or window cracked.
Works fine for me.
Talk to your electrician. You will need a changoever switch wired in to switch between mains and the generator.
12.5K is enough to run your whole house if YOU are smart about it and not try to use your microwave, toaster, hair dryer, air conditioning, and electric oven all at the same time.
Otherwise it is an expensive option to install a second breaker panel and have one panel powered by mains or the generator that will have essential circuits such as refrigerator, furnace, freezer, and some lights and wall outlets.
The second panel would be fed only by mains and would go down during a power outage, and it would have non-essential circuits such as air conditioning, electric stove, electric clothes dryer, electric hot water, and the rest of your lighting and wall outlet circuits.
That genset will use a lot of fuel. So consider that.
If you back feed into your panel, then you’ll need to know what breakers to shut off and leave off (water heater, for instance)
A subpanel and transfer switch is the right way to do it.
Another way to think is to pair it with a decent sized battery and then you could supplement with solar.
I ran my all electric home for a couple weeks after a hurricane with a 5kw genset and the knowledge of what I could run at the same time.
I shut everything off but the water heater for 30 mins before shower time, then shut it off and turned on the well pump. This is complicated for some people.
Now I can run just about everything with a 2kw genset hooked to a single/split phase converter with a 4kw battery used for overnight incidental loads.
There are many strategies from just buy a 25kw set and live as normal to get a small one to run a few lights and fridge.
It’s all depending on what your worst-case scenario is. A day or two? You’ll be fine, a week or two? Think maintenance items. A month or two? Think small and basic and a supplemental battery.
It’s up to you and how much of an education you need to safely run a backup genset.