A whole-home standby generator backs up the entire electrical panel — central air, water heater, well or sump pump, refrigerator, and the rest of the house — so a Houma home keeps running through a multi-day hurricane outage. It is sized off a real load calculation that accounts for motor startup surge, fueled by natural gas or propane, and wired to a permitted automatic transfer switch that starts it when the grid drops and shuts it down when power returns.
What whole-home backup solves
Whole-home backup is for the household that does not want to choose which circuits matter: the air-conditioning, the kitchen, the pumps, and every outlet stay live through the outage. In Terrebonne Parish, where storms can leave power out for days, that means no melting coolers, no sump pump quitting and letting water in, and no sleeping through the August heat with no AC. It is the full-coverage answer when the budget supports it.
How a proper whole-home install is built
A correct install starts with a load calculation on the actual house — the AC tonnage, the pumps, the water heater, the panel — then sizes the unit to carry that load including the surge the AC compressor and pumps draw at startup. The generator is set on its pad to the manufacturer's clearance from doors and windows, the natural-gas or propane fuel is run and the line capacity verified, and the automatic transfer switch is wired to the panel, permitted, and inspected.
- Load calc. Size the unit to the whole-house load and the motor startup surge, not square footage.
- Fuel. Natural gas (line capacity verified) or propane (tank sized to a realistic outage).
- Transfer switch. Automatic, permitted, inspected — the safety device that stops back-feed.
- Commission. Run the unit, set the exercise cycle, confirm it carries the panel.
Whole-home or essential circuits?
Whole-home runs everything but costs more; backing up only the circuits you cannot lose is frequently the more cost-effective route. If you do not need central air on backup, see essential-circuit generators, and either way the install needs a proper automatic transfer switch. We walk through which one your house actually needs in what size standby generator do I need and break down the price in what drives standby generator cost.