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If you don't want trouble The your generator has to be BIG.

Although people who sell generators push this myth all of the time... a 5000 watt generator is perfectly adequate for a typical household. But go to my second to last paragraph if this seems to contradict what you believe, because it might not.

I speak not from theory but from 30 years of experience and living in an area where the power goes out frequently. We had a larger generator, all it did for us was use a great deal more fuel.

If your load is lopsided even a 7500 watt generator can perform poorly. We can have 2 large wattage loads running at the same time and often do, but you are pushing your luck with a 5000 watt generator if you exceed 2500 watts on one side of your 240v circuit especially if they have high starting loads such as an air compressor.

That said the situation can be similar to when you buy an $18 1/2” impact wrench at Harbor Freight and need to remove lug nuts from wheels that have not been off your 3/4 ton pickup for the last couple of years. It might not be a happy day. The 5000 watt generator that we have been using for the last 30 years was an industrial quality item with an engine rated for industrial use.

If you buy a cheap Chinese generator with a Chinese Honda clone engine it may or may not put out the amount of power that it is rated for. The Chinese are known to exaggerate just about all of their specs. On the plus side Chinese Honda clone engines are typically quieter and more fuel efficient than a similarly sized Briggs & Stratton. But you might need to get the 7500 watt size to actually get 5000 watts of continuous problem free power generation.

I use two multifunction watt meters with built in memory to monitor our output and trouble shoot whatever difficulties that we occasionally have. Without metering you really have no idea what is going on with your generator. You need two to monitor both sides. They are $20 a piece on Amazon and other places. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JB9B2QL/