Cate, I bought a 6500 Watt (8500 Watt startup) portable generator recently. The first time I used it was only with extension cords, with it running only a few things (fridge, TV, oil furnace).
I recently had a transfer switch installed. It has 10 circuits, so I can power my well, furnace, TV, fridge, a bathroom and my bedroom. I have a couple other circuits as well, but would not run all 10 at once, not enough power. But to run only the essentials, my 6500W generator is plenty.
The transfer switch is hard-wired to the main circuit panel. It is also hard-wired to an outlet/receptacle that is mounted to the outside of the house, which is what the generator plugs in to. When there is a power outage, I just wheel the generator outside, fire it up, and plug it in. Then on the transfer panel I select which circuits I want to power up with the generator. It is pretty simple, but it is all manual.
The whole set-up, including the generator, transfer switch and installation of the transfer switch cost me about $1300.
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Getting ready for winter!
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