A portable generator is one of the most convenient ways to keep running your households and home appliance at the time of an emergency or absence of electricity. Being portable allows you to move anywhere you require. If you are a tenant and tend to change your residence frequently, then a portable generator should be your best bet out there.
In the modern age, we are accustomed not to live without the absence of electricity. Even you cannot imagine too, right? Everything stands still and maybe, you sweat due to the hot weather because you cannot run your fan as well. In this case, a portable generator should come handy. But the question is- what size portable generator do I need?
What Size Portable Generator Do I Need?
Depending on several different things, you have to choose your portable generator to run your households and home appliances. The more appliances like refrigerators, micro oven, washing machine, and electronic devices like phone, hairdryer, and so forth, you want to run, the more watt you will need.

A list of the things you want to run
When it comes to purchasing a portable generator to run your households and home appliance, including micro oven, rice cooker, washing machine, fans, lights, and so forth, you have to make sure actually which things you need to run with the generator. It will help you to determine how much watts also you need from the portable generator to produce at the absence of electricity.
It is recommended to make a list of the most important electronic devices, including your computer, mobile device, routers, and home appliances like rice cooker, refrigerator, micro oven, etc. so that you can minimize the need for your watts from the generator.
Calculate the watts you need
The second and important step before you head over to buy a portable generator is calculating the watts considering all the devices and appliances you want to run with the generator. In this case, all you need to do is write down the watt shown on each device and machines so that you can make a total of them.
Maybe, you are wondering where do you find these watts, right? Well, on each device and appliances, you will find it something like that 60W, 100W, and so forth. These are the watts you have to calculate so that you can bring the right generator for your needs.
Surge or Peak watts
There are two types of watts you will come across while buying a portable generator. You have to make sure how many surge or peak watts do your households and appliances need. Then purchasing a portable generator should be the only solution. If you are not familiar with the term ‘surge or peak’ watt, let me explain.
The appliances which have a motor in them need more watts at the time of starting them. And, after turning the appliances like the refrigerator on, it will require less watts than the first time. Similarly, your portable generator should supply the surge watts at first to run these devices and appliances.
Typical or regular watts
If you have learned what surge watts are, then it will be easier for you to understand typical or regular watts comfortably. The devices and appliances that have a motor to run them require both surge and regular watts to run them flawlessly. In this case, a machine like a hairdryer needs both surge and regular watts.
For the first time, while turning the hairdryer on, it will draw more watts to run the motor of the device. Therefore, after a while, it needs fewer watts than the previous to run the hairdryer for a longer period. The watts that the hairdryer needs to run it for a longer period is called regular or typical watts.
How Portable Generators Work?
A portable generator is handy when it comes to power in your house in the absence of electricity or during an emergency. Also, it benefits you to move the generator anywhere you require because of being portable. So, you keep tension-free whether electricity fails or not.
The work process of a portable generator is not so complicated as you might be thinking. A generator is just used to produce electricity to power your house. You will end up finding an internal combustion engine, starter, fuel tank, alternator, and outlets. When you operate the machine for powering your house, it uses fuel in the combustion chamber, and through a process, it produces electricity to power your households.
Tips For Choosing A Generator That’s Right For Your Needs And Your
Before you go to buy a portable generator, a few important things should be considered. Besides, you may end up purchasing a wrong portable generator, which may not fulfill your requirements to power your house. In this case, you have to consider its size, watts it is going to cover, noise, portability, and so forth.
- A portable generator should produce as many watts as your households and home appliances need to power them. Also, it should provide more watts than you need to run your households and appliances and electronic devices like mobile phones, tablets, computers.
- The portable generator should provide you with both surge or peak watts as well as regular or typical watts. Otherwise, it will not help you to run your refrigerator, hairdryer, micro oven because these appliances need surge watts to run them.
- The size of the portable generator should fit in your room or outside the room where you want to place it. If it is too big or too small, then it will not be a better match for your room or place you want to keep the generator.
- The portable generator should not produce much noise. If it produces a lot of noise while operating the machine, it will pollute sound, which you never want. Therefore, you can mitigate the loud noise by making a cover box.
Frequently Asked Questions
In this situation, you may have more questions in your mind. Don’t worry because, in this article, I will also answer some questions that you may have in your mind.
Can I run my portable generator in the rain?
How long can you run a portable generator?
Where should I place my portable generator?
Final Thought
So, what size of portable generator you need depends on several things. You have to make sure how much watts do your generator needs to produce. Also, you have to consider the space where you are going to place the portable generator. If you are satisfied with all these things, you can buy a portable generator to run your households and home appliances.