Geoff from Port Monmouth, NJ has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since August of 2019. The generator was commissioned that December: a 16 kW Generac Guardian on natural gas, on a 200-amp whole-house transfer switch, sized against a 13 kW calculation for the 2,700 square foot house. Port Monmouth sits on the bay behind a hurricane barrier, in the stretch of Monmouth County that has been rebuilt once already after a storm surge – which puts backup power in a different light here than it would be a few miles inland. The generator is on annual maintenance with monitoring we manage, so a fault reaches us rather than waiting to be discovered.
Project Facts
- Location
- Port Monmouth, NJ
- Services
- Standby Generator Installation, Standby Generator Service
- Client since
- August 2019
- Manufacturer
- Generac Model # 70371
- Rated output
- 16 kW LP / 16 kW NG
- Fuel
- Natural Gas
- Home sized for
- 2,700 sq ft
- Electrical service
- 200 amp
- Transfer switch
- 200 amp
- Load management
- Managed Whole House
Standby generator questions from Port Monmouth homeowners
Does a generator in Port Monmouth have to sit twelve inches above the flood elevation?
That figure should not be treated as a universal rule without looking at the actual property. The required elevation can depend on the flood-zone designation, the municipal freeboard, the Design Flood Elevation, Coastal A or V Zone conditions, NJDEP requirements and the applicable building-code provisions. Each flood-zone installation is worked out individually.
Can the generator stay connected during a pressure test?
The machine has to be protected from test pressures beyond what its fuel controls are built to withstand. The fuel-gas code sets out when appliances are disconnected or isolated for testing, and the plumbing contractor follows both that code and the generator's installation instructions.
How level does a generator have to be?
Within the leveling tolerance specified in its installation manual -- applicable air-cooled instructions have used roughly a half-inch overall. A poorly prepared base can settle after installation and bring on drainage, vibration or enclosure problems that were not there on the day it went in.