Silo · Whole-house generators
Furnace or air handler. Well pump. Sump. Freezer. Maybe one HVAC condenser. That is the whole-house job. If your real list is a fridge and a router, this is the wrong aisle.
Here is the job for this silo. Sort automatic standby from a portable in the driveway. Sort air-cooled from liquid-cooled. Put a real all-in number on the install after gas, pad, and permit. Plenty of search traffic wants “best whole house generator 2026” and a buy button. Not here. Jackery, BLUETTI, and Anker SOLIX are the featured partners on this site. They do not sell pad plants. So we will not invent a Generac click ID, a Kohler SKU ranking, or a fake dealer coupon.
Start with your loads, not a brand. If they include 240 V that has to run for days, this hub is yours. Jump to the child pages. Still arguing with a 2 kWh brick over the same job. Wrong aisle — start at power stations for home backup or the battery versus standby fork.
Jackery, BLUETTI, and Anker SOLIX do not sell traditional automatic standby generators. This silo is informational so the cluster is complete. Featured partner hops live on battery and station pages: Jackery, BLUETTI, Anker SOLIX. We will not mint /go/generac or put a buy button on a named 24 kW trophy SKU we cannot actually sell. Full text: affiliate disclosure. Ranking rules: how we review.
Dealers say “whole house” to comfort you. Electricians mean hardware. An automatic transfer switch (ATS) that moves the service or a managed panel onto the generator. An engine sized for the loads you refuse to shed. A 10 kW air-cooled unit can be “whole house” if the condenser is locked out. A 22 kW liquid-cooled unit can still brown out a heat pump if nobody checked locked-rotor amps. Nameplate kilowatts are a starting class — not a promise the outdoor unit starts in January.
Fuel is part of the machine. Natural gas is set-and-forget while the utility stays pressurized. In wind events it often does. Propane is yours, independent of the gas company, and finite in the tank. Gasoline belongs on portables. Not on a pad you expect to start itself. Placement, noise, and the AHJ (authority having jurisdiction) kill otherwise “best” quotes. The Home Backup is a publisher, not your inspector. The desk’s scope fits on one page at about.
Class A — Pad plant
Best-of by class
Air-cooled 9–12 kW versus liquid-cooled 20 kW+ versus portable plus inlet. Buy a class, not a trophy SKU.
Class A — Pad plant
Vs
Automatic ATS versus you in the driveway. Carbon monoxide, fuel, and the difference between a gas portable and a LiFePO4 station.
Class A — Pad plant
Buying guide
Size loads, then the gas line, then the brochure. Permits, HOA, ATS types, placement.
Class A — Pad plant
Cost
Equipment versus install versus ownership. Order-of-magnitude US numbers, not a dealer quote.
Maybe 8–12 kW of automatic gas power is more house than you need. Compare home battery vs standby generator. The split-phase kit we actually name on this site is the Anker SOLIX F3800. A battery with an inverter. Not a pad plant. Essential circuits for hours is a station job. That page is power stations for home backup. If we got a local code wrong, write contact.
Write your loads down first. The 240 V ones on their own line. Then open the page that matches the list.
