What Can a 5000-Watt Generator Run?

 What Is a 5000W Generator?

Power outages can last from a few days to weeks - and can cause inconvenience for homeowners. For example, refrigerators can stop working, leading to spoiled foods. Additionally, when essential devices like sump pumps do not work, water can cause damage to homes. That's where investing in a sizable 5000-watt generator becomes necessary.

While a small generator can power an appliance or two, a whole-home generator is designed to charge most of the home appliances for hours. A 5000-watt generator can provide electricity to many essential home appliances, including space heaters, ACs, sump pumps, refrigerators, lights, smartphones, etc. Here are a few terms you'll need to keep in mind when purchasing the generator.

Starting Watts: Also called surge watts, it's the maximum power appliances need for a short period of time. This number is generally two to three times higher than running watts. Some appliances that require starting watts include freezers, refrigerators, water heaters, etc. 

Running Watts: Sometimes called rated watts, running wattage is the amount of electricity needed to keep the appliances running for hours.

Surge Wattage: Simply put, surge wattage is the highest wattage a generator can produce. It's always a wise idea to add an additional 1000-2000 watts to cover the initial surge. The surge wattage of Jackery Explorer Portable Power Stations is typically double its rated wattage, helping you charge heavy-duty appliances safely. Surge watts measure the highest wattage of a generator, whereas starting watts measure the appliance's highest wattage.

Watt-Hour: It's a unit that measures the battery capacity over time. In mathematical terms, the watt-hour equals the one watt of energy supplied in one hour to the connected appliances.

What Size Generator Do I Need?

The right size solar generator will depend on how much total wattage your home appliances need. All you need to do is list the appliances and the wattage required to run them. Generally speaking, you can find the watt consumption directly on the appliance or on the user manual.

In order to calculate what size generator you need for indoor or outdoor purposes, follow the steps below.

Step 1: First, list all the appliances, like refrigerators, ACs, sump pumps, etc., that you would like to charge with the generator and determine the starting and running watts of these appliances. If you can't find the wattage consumption on the appliance label, multiply amps by volts to get a wattage estimation.

Step 2: Now, add all the starting watts of the appliances and choose the highest running wattage among all the chosen electrical devices.

Step 3: The last step is to simply add the total running wattage of the appliances you want to charge at the same time and the highest starting wattage to calculate the generator size. 

Remember, if the home appliance has a built-in motor, you'll need to take running and starting watts of the appliance. In mathematical terms, the running watts are equal to 1-3 times the starting wattage.

Here's a generator wattage chart revealing the common home appliances along with their running and starting wattage.

What Can a 5000-Watt Generator Run?

A 5000-watt generator is powerful enough to charge most home or outdoor appliances. It's designed to meet the basic needs of most households during extended power outages. It can also charge RV appliances for an extended, comfortable stay. This section will include what can a 5000-watt generator run in different scenarios.

Can A 5000-Watt Generator Run a House?

Yes. Generators come in different sizes and capacities, and a 5000-watt generator can run most home appliances, including water heaters, ACs, refrigerators, etc. While selecting the generator size, you'll need to understand what appliances you wish to power simultaneously. For example, if you want to simultaneously power an AC (1200W), lights (10W), and CPAP machine (60W), a 5000-watt generator can charge them for nearly 3-4 hours.

Work Site

Contractors also use a 5000-watt generator to power their portable electric tools. It's more than enough to charge common heavy-duty power tools like a circular saw, electric drills, table saws, portable air compressors, and even electric leaf blowers. One important thing to remember is that if you want to run multiple power tools simultaneously, make sure it does not run against the surge limit of the generator.

RV

A 5000-watt generator is also an excellent choice for most small and large RVs. It offers enough power to charge essential kitchen appliances, lights, and a small AC in the RV. While smaller RVs require around a 3000-watt generator, a 5000-watt generator can power multiple appliances simultaneously in larger vehicles like Jackery Explorer 3000 Pro Portable Power Station.  

Off-Grid Living

One of the most common reasons to invest in a large solar generator is practicing off-grid living. A 5000-watt generator acts as a backup power supply during off-grid adventures. Investing in an off-grid generator will help you eliminate the high electricity bills and reduce environmental impact. Here's a table revealing what will a 5000 watt generator run during off-grid living.

Jackery 5000W Generator

Jackery does not offer a solar generator with 5000W output. So, how to build a 5000-watt solar generator? You can combine two Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus Portable Power Stations in parallel connection to build up to a generator with 6000W rated watts and 12000W surge watts.

Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus Double Kit has a LiFePO4 battery of 4085.6Wh and a higher output of up to 6000W. This solar generator lets you enjoy increased output, expandable battery capacity, and parallel operation from AC/DC ports. With multiple output ports, the Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus Double Kit can help you freely charge up to 18 home or outdoor devices.

The Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus Double Kit combines 2*Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus Portable Power Station to build a generator supplying 6000W rated watts and 12000W surge watts. If you're buying this home battery backup, you'll get the parallel cable for free to connect the 2*Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus Portable Power Station and build a generator supplying around 6000 rated watts.

Customer Review

"I bought this specifically so I could plug in my freezer during a multi-day power outage. It appears to have enough power to run the freezer for two days, and the freezer will hold for another two days. This means I should survive the too-frequent multi-day power outages for a few years. Until climate change worsens and the outages get even more frequent and longer." — Anita Dyer.

How Long Will a 5000-Watt Generator Run?

The running time of the Jackery Solar Generator will depend on the watts of the appliances you're charging and for how long. For example, if you want to charge small appliances, the solar generator can run for long hours. On the other hand, if you are charging larger power tools, it will supply steady electricity for a few minutes.

In this table, we will use the Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus Double Kit to calculate the running time of different home appliances along with other technical specifications.

If you plan to live entirely off the grid or want a powerful battery backup during outages, you may consider Jackery Solar Generators. These home solar generators consist of Jackery SolarSaga Solar Panels that can charge the Jackery Explorer Portable Power Stations when no nearby electrical outlet is available, or there's an extended power outage.

How Many Amps Does a 5000-Watt Generator?

A 5000-watt generator can provide around 41.67 amps operating at 120 volts. This is because watts are equal to the product of volts and amps.

Let's take the example of the Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus Portable Power Station.

Watts = Amps * Volts 

If the volts is 44.8V and the battery capacity is 2042.8Wh, the amp-hour can be calculated as follows:

Amp-hour = 2042.8Wh ÷ 44.8V = 45.6Ah

That means the Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus Portable Power Station with LiFePO4 battery capacity of 2042.8Wh when working at 44.8V has 45.6Ah.

5000 Watt Generator FAQs

Will a 5500-watt generator run central air?

A central air conditioner (10,000 BTU) needs nearly 1500 running watts and 4500 starting watts. A 5500-watt generator can quickly charge the central AC for some time.

Will a 5000-watt generator run central air?

For a central air conditioner, you'll typically need around 5000-8000W generator, depending on the BTU units. You may need a high-capacity generator if you want to power ACs with larger energy consumption needs.

For example, the expandable Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus Portable Power Station might be an excellent choice for large appliances. It can be expanded from 2kWh to 24kWh with the help of additional Jackery Battery Pack 2000 Plus.

Is it cheaper to run a generator on gas or propane?

Yes, a gas or propane generator might seem a cheaper solution to many people. However, they are expensive to operate in the long run because of high gas and propane prices. Solar generators are affordable chargers for most home or outdoor appliances. Jackery provides many portable solar generators and battery backups to power most electrical devices. Since they use free solar energy, these solar generators become affordable choices in the long run.

What appliances will a 5500-watt generator run?

A 5000-watt generator can run various household appliances, including refrigerators, air conditioning units, washing machines, electric stoves, microwaves, etc. In short, any electric appliance that draws less than 5500 watts can be efficiently charged by the generator.

What happens if you overload a generator?

Overloading a generator can lead to many issues, like overheating, circuit breaker trips, and intermittent power. It can even damage the appliances that are connected to the generator. It's always a great idea to calculate the total wattage consumption and make sure it aligns with the generator wattage.

How many kW to power a house?

An average household consumes around 5-7kWh of electrical energy. If you power heavy-duty appliances, you might need around 12-15kWh of electricity. Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus Portable Power Stations can be expanded from 2kWh to 24kWh to meet the needs of different households.

How far away from the house does the generator need to be?

If you are using a gas generator, it should be at least 18-20 feet away from your home. However, this might not be ideal in all the scenarios. For this reason, many people consider solar generators that are designed for indoor use. Jackery Solar Generators use free solar energy that can be used to charge indoor appliances.

Conclusion

A backup solar generator is an excellent choice for those living in an area prone to power outages. A 5000-watt generator can charge most essential household appliances for long hours. The whole-home generators ensure you are never left in the dark, whether indoors or outdoors. Jackery offers many whole-house solar generators, such as the Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus Double Kit, with surge wattage of up to 6000W. The unit is quiet for indoor use, so you never have to worry about your night's sleep.