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Get a ballpark standby generator size for backing up essentials or your whole home.
Standby generators come in set sizes. Here’s what each one really handles in a Minnesota home.
Furnace fan, fridge, sump, lights and Wi-Fi. Central AC sits this one out.
Most of the panel, with the controller easing the AC on gently.
The Twin Cities sweet spot — AC, well, sump and range all at once.
All-electric homes, hobby farms, or EV + hot tub + heat pump households.
An AC compressor or well pump gulps two to three times its running draw in the first second. If the generator can’t ride that surge, it trips right when the whole house is counting on it. We size against startup numbers — not the nameplate.
A generator around here earns its keep at 20 below with the furnace fan and sump both running. Every number on this page carries a 20% cold-weather cushion, so the worst night isn’t the night it quits.
Newer Generac and Kohler controllers pause the water heater or stagger a second AC while the big loads start. Set up right, a 22 kW often covers what used to take a 26. We’ll tell you straight if that applies to your panel.
The same unit puts out roughly 10% less on natural gas than on propane. The fuel toggle up top adjusts for it — and if you’re weighing the two, we’ll happily quote both ways.
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The right generator still needs a transfer switch and enough panel capacity to carry the backed-up circuits. We confirm both before quoting.
A natural-gas line or propane tank has to actually deliver the flow a larger unit demands. We check the gas-line sizing and regulator, or size the propane tank, on the site visit.
This is a smart ballpark from your home’s size and the loads you picked. The final number comes from a real load calculation at your panel — that’s what we bring to the quote.
Residential standby units typically run 8–26 kW. Essentials-only sizing covers the furnace, fridge, well pump and key circuits (~10 kW); whole-home including central AC runs ~22–26 kW. We size to your actual loads and panel.
Natural gas where you have a line (effectively unlimited runtime); propane where you don't, with runtime set by tank size. We recommend based on your property.
A battery is silent and recharges from solar but has finite runtime; a generator runs as long as it has fuel. Many Minnesota homes pair solar + battery for everyday resilience and a generator for rare long outages.
Square footage is a starting hint, nothing more. A heat pump and an EV charger can double the load compared to the gas-heated house next door at the same size. That’s why the toggles in the tool matter more than the slider.
One of two things — it trips the moment the AC and the well pump gang up on it, or it grinds along near its ceiling, drinking fuel and aging fast. A standby unit is happiest loafing along at half to three-quarters load.
No. Oversizing means a bigger gas line, a pricier transfer switch, and a unit that runs inefficiently at partial load. Right-sized with an honest margin beats “the biggest one on the truck” every time.
Most 22 kW whole-home projects in the metro land between $11,000 and $16,000 once the gas work, transfer switch and pad are in. Bigger 30–36 kW jobs can reach $20,000–$25,000. Whoever quotes you should be able to show the load math behind the size — we always will.
We’re comfortable with both. Generac has parts and techs everywhere; Kohler runs a touch quieter and cycles hard without complaint. Honestly, the install quality matters more than the badge on the cover.
Essentials-only backs up a short list of circuits and keeps the cost down. Full whole-home transfers everything. The sweet spot for most Twin Cities homes is managed whole-home — everything works, and the controller staggers the heavy loads. That’s the 22–26 kW tier.
On natural gas, as long as the utility keeps the line flowing — which it almost always does, even during an outage. On propane it comes down to your tank: a 500-gallon tank at half load runs a 22 kW unit around four to five days.
These tools are ballparks — a free assessment gives you exact, site-specific figures.