Generac Guardian is the Most Powerful Home Generator

There are several things that homeowners look for in a generator — efficiency, convenience, reliability, portability, special features. Homeowners looking for maximum power should look at heavy duty whole home generators, namely the Generac Guardian 26kW Home Standby Generator. It’s the most powerful air-cooled home standby generator available. 

You may be wondering “How much power is 26kW?” A kW is a kilowatt, or 1,000 watts. Generac, the largest generator company in the country, produces generators for home and commercial use ranging from 800 watts to a whopping 2 megawatts (or 2 million watts.) That’s a remarkable range of power capacities. The 2mW unit is only for commercial purposes, and would dangerously overpower most homes.

According to the US Energy Information Agency (EIA): 

In 2020, the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 10,715 kilowatt hours (kWh), an average of about 893 kWh per month. Louisiana had the highest annual electricity consumption at 14,407 kWh per residential customer, and Hawaii had the lowest at 6,446 kWh per residential customer.

A kilowatt hour is simply how many kilowatts are being used in an hour, on average. Notice the huge variance in electricity consumption from state to state, with 14,407 being the highest state average. A 26kW home generator could more than handle that sort of power requirement.  

The best way to assess your home’s power needs is by calling a generator dealer and scheduling an appointment. The technician will come to your home to gauge how much power would be required during an outage, and answer your questions about fuel costs, and ways to save money, such as not powering all your appliances at all times. 

In the meantime, if you’d like to calculate a rough estimate of your power needs, here are some rules of thumb.

Imagine you want a small generator that will power a refrigerator. According to the manual the running wattage for the unit is 500 watts. But since it’s a motored appliance, it uses a lot of energy to start up. This is usually about three times the running wattage. You can calculate this way:

Running Wattage (R) = 500 watts

Starting Wattage (S) = 500 x 3 = 1,500 watts

Total Wattage (R + S) = 500 + 1,500 = 2,000 watts

So in this case you would want a generator that can easily handle a 2,000 watt (or 2kW) load. To avoid the possibility of overheating, you want to use a generator that can handle all your power needs while using no more than 90 percent of its capacity. 

Here’s a glance at typical running power used by a variety of appliances and devices. As you can see, wattages can vary quite a bit:

Electric Furnace: 5000 – 25000

Heater (radiant): 1300

Central Air Conditioning: 2000 – 4000

Water Heater: 3000 – 4500

Water Pump: 1000 – 2000

Window Air Conditioner: 600 – 1500

Outdoor Lighting: 500 – 1000

Sump Pump: 1500

Refrigerator/Freezer: 600 – 800 

Electric Range (one element): 2500 

Toaster: 1100 – 1700 

Microwave: 1200 

Hot Plate: 1250 

Coffeemaker: 400 – 800 

Electric Oven: 5000 

Television: 100 – 350 

Personal Computer: 500 – 2000 

Hair Dryer: 1200 – 1500 

Vacuum: 700 – 1400 

Space Heater: 1250 

Table Lamp: 150

You may have noticed the term “air-cooled” in the description of this generator and wondered why it’s important. Most large generators have required liquid cooling systems, which makes them bulky. Air-cooled generators take up a lot less space. In fact, the Guardian 26kW Home Standby Generator takes up 68% less space than liquid-cooled home standby generators that were previously required to provide similar peak output. That makes it a lot less of an eyesore, and leaves a lot more room for lawns and landscaping. Liquid-cooled generators are expensive, too. Because the Guardian 26kW is lighter, smaller, and easier to install than those systems, it can save homeowners as much as $8,000 on purchase and install costs. That’s a huge savings. There have been high-powered air-cooled systems before, but this new generator has 28% more starting power than competitors. 

Since the Guardian 26kW is Smart Grid Ready, it allows customers to quickly and seamlessly connect to grid programs and offset their energy costs. In most cases, the Guardian 26kW functions as a traditional home standby generator and powers the home in the event of an outage. But at peak demand times, owners can choose to allow the utility to use the generator as a virtual power plant, reducing strain on the electrical grid and offsetting a portion of the homeowner’s monthly energy expenses. Seidel Electric Inc is an official Generac PowerPro Elite dealer. We help home and business owners throughout the Blairstown, New Jersey area with advanced electrical solutions. Whether you need generator repair or want to install a new unit, our qualified technicians will arrive to offer friendly and professional support. Contact our team today to learn more about our services and financing options.