I’m from New Orleans and I live in Houston. I know what it’s like when the power goes out for an extended period of time. When a powerful windstorm known as derecho hit Houston last month, killing eight people and knocking out power for nearly a million homes, we decided it was time to get a generator.
Is a whole home generator worth the cost? At a quote of $14k delivered and installed, we were faced with this decision and decided against it. Here is what we did instead:
- Get a regular generator that runs on natural gas.
- Get an addition on your natural gas line that allows you to run natural gas from the main line to the generator (you’ll need a plumber to do this at around $400).
- Get an electrician to add a 50-amp breaker and an interlock that allows you to plug your generator into your main power box. We paid $850, but some electricians wanted to charge us $3K for the same service. It was enough to run lights, refrigerator, washer and dryer, a gas hot water heater, and even A/C. You may need to turn off the dryer when using A/C, but you won’t be without power.
What I’ve noticed is that when the power goes out, it’s not for long. This is a cheaper way to provide power to the whole house for a fraction of the cost. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me and I’ll give you more info on what I did.