Obviously, the best situation would be to have a whole house standby generator to power your home for an extended power outage. When sized properly, they have enough capacity to run everything in your home, including a central air conditioner rated at up to 5 tons. However, because of expense, most folks won't have one. Portable generators are much more affordable, but they won't be able to power everything in the home, much less a large central air conditioner. What can you do to make yourself more comfortable so that you're not miserable in the heat and humidity that usually follows after a tropical system?
Obviously, the cheapest thing is to have fans. They don't draw much power, and you'll be able to run multiple fans with no problems on just about any size generator. However, while fans do give you the wind chill effect and can make hotter temperatures more bearable, they do nothing to actually cool or dehumidify the air. Enter window units and portable air conditioners.
During our planning between Rita and Ike, dad and I discussed how we would remain comfortable after a storm's passage. We were pretty certain that the power would be off for an extended period of time (and we turned out to be right). We also knew that the weather would be hot and humid after the storm. After doing some research, I found that several companies make portable air conditioning units. The unit we chose is a Sunpentown 12,000 BTU portable air conditioner. The reason we chose it: efficiency. The unit has an EER (Energy Efficiency Rating) of 12.23 and only draws 950 watts while it is running (more during compressor startup). As with all things that you want to run on the generator, the operating wattage is extremely important. What made us choose this unit over others was it's BTU rating versus the amount of power it consumes while running. We could power this unit easily with only one of our small Honda generators that produces 2,000 watts, and it would only be at 50% load. Many of the other units we looked at in the same BTU range would draw 1,200 to 1,500 watts or more. Higher efficiency and lower wattage draw means less load and stress on the generators, not to mention better fuel economy.
Two days before Ike hit, I decided to make another "panic" purchase at Sam's Club. We were there looking for a few other last-minute items and I saw a smaller 8,000 BTU window unit. Since we had the generating capacity, I decided to buy it for my bedroom so I could sleep in my own bed after the storm rather than having to "camp" in the folks' room where the portable unit would be. I'm really glad I did, too. It made the four nights without power much more bearable, and it didn't add too much more load to the generators. It also turned out to be handy the night after the storm hit, as it was warm and we had a bunch of guests over for dinner and to watch college football (and to let them cool off some in some air conditioning). I hooked it up downstairs in one of the windows and ran both it and the portable unit to provide cooling. It worked out great!
Obviously, the generators we had allowed us to do a lot more stuff than just run the smaller AC units. Between the three generators (2x 2,000 watt Hondas and one 5.550 watt Briggs), we had a maximum of 9,550 watts of capacity. This allowed us to run two refrigerators and a deep freezer, multiple lights, some computer gear and the entertainment system in addition to the air conditioners. We had to do some load management sometimes, too. For instance, in the mornings, we would unplug the air conditioners (or turn them off) so we could plug in and run the coffee maker. You definitely have to be careful about overloading whatever generating capacity you might have, and knowing how much power a particular appliance or device uses when running helps you figure this. Most appliances have stickers on them somewhere that denote approximately how much power they draw when running. You can also get a power consumption monitoring device that will tell you in real time how much power an attached device is consuming. I bought at WattsUp Pro Power Meter specifically for that purpose. There are others available these days, too.
Another consideration for portable generator use is extension cords. Not only do you need to run them to items you want to power, you also want to make sure they're of a sufficient size for the type of load you anticipate putting on them. There are two reasons: first, and most importantly, is that an undersized extension cord can be a fire hazard. They can heat up when they're too small for the amperage load. Secondly, a larger cord size ensures the attached appliance/device is getting all the juice it needs, which is easier on both the appliance and the generator. For example, if you're just wanting to plug in a lamp or two and a fan, a smaller-AWG extension cord - 16 or even 18 AWG - will work just fine, as the amperage draw on those items is low. However, if you're wanting to power your fridge or a freezer or something, the extension cord should be a heavier-duty cord to handle the amp draw (especially during compressor startup). A 12 AWG extension cord would be suitable for that situation. You'll also want to use a larger AWG cord for a "main" circuit - i.e. something you plug other cords or power strips into. Also, shorter direct cord runs to larger-load appliances are preferred to having them attached farther down on a "branch cord" circuit. Here are a couple of examples:
These are just a couple of examples of how not to wire some of your heavier loads, and a couple of possible suggestions on how to properly wire them. The heavier-gauge extension cord is definitely necessary if you're going to run multiple heavier amperage loads from a single cord. Again, not doing so can be a fire hazard and can be hard on the generator and attached appliances.
Once you're all "wired and fired up," sit back and enjoy the fruits of your investments and labor! You'll be the envy of the block. We were! You'll be comfortable with lights and maybe even air conditioning, you can watch TV, and most importantly, you can keep the beer cold and stock up pre-storm on perishables and eat good, while everyone else is eating canned beans and weenies. 