My generator will run everything but my central AC. I have a window unit that we use, and we close off the bedrooms. The window unit is around 10000 BTU I think. When we bought the house 23 years ago, I wired my shed for my welding machine. That takes a 50 amp breaker. When we got the generator, I made a pig tail that I can plug the generator into the receptacle for the welding machine. I kill the main breaker and set up the generator like this, and we have power through out the house. It works well for a few days but does use about 10 gallons of gas a day. Not bad I guess for a 8500 watt generator. Also being I plug it in at my shed, it is not that close to the house, so its itt that loud. Hope I dont need it though. After U use the generator, I always drain out all of the gas, and store it for the next time. This has worked well for me several times. I think Ive had the generator for maybe 10 or 15 years. I have thought about a gererac all in one maybe 15000 watt, that would run everything, but the are not cheap. My 8500 does good enough to get us by for a week or so.