Home Generator: Selecting, Sizing And Connecting: The Complete Guide

Since most residential electrical lines in the US use overhead wires, and because the infrastructure of our power grid keeps deteriorating, widespread power outages will likely continue. For many homeowners who do not have a technical background, choosing a backup power system can be challenging.

That's why I came up with this guide. I am a retired electrical engineer with over 35 years of experience in the power electronics field. This guide provides you with the practical information that you need to know in order to choose the right emergency power generator for your needs and to choose right connection method. My book discusses selection of standby and portable electric generators in minute detail. It also presents an overview of battery-based backup systems. For each type of electric generators this Home Generator Guide provides principles of operation, pros and cons, lesser known details, charts with comparative characteristics of the popular brands, cost estimation, step-by-step sizing procedure and transfer switch wiring options. The book also explains some common mistakes made in determining the required generator size. In conclusion I offer ny generator picks depending on your requirements and budget.

This guide focuses primarily on the North American split-phase 120/240 V electrical system. Note this is not a DIY guide- look Inside the book to preview pages.

You can download a free sample chapter of the book that describes the GFCI issue. For those who don't know, many portable generators are equipped with so-called Ground Fault Circuit Interrupt (GFCI), a.k.a Ground Fault Interrupter (GFI) to meet OSHA requirements for construction sites. When you are trying to connect such a generator to a transfer switch, GFCI will trip and no outlet will function. This chapter explains the issue and describes the solutions.

Besides Amazon, this book is available in an electronic form on Apple Books and Google Play Books. You can easily read them on your phone.