Haren from Green Brook, NJ has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since November of 2020. The generator was commissioned in July of 2021: a 27 kW machine on natural gas, on a 400-amp service-entrance switch with three smart management modules. This is the largest installation on the site by some margin – 8,300 square feet, a 26 kW load calculation, five refrigerators, two washers, two gas dryers and two dishwashers. A 400-amp service is twice what a large house normally carries, and at that scale load management stops being a refinement and becomes the design: three modules stagger the heaviest draws so a single machine covers the whole property rather than a nominated part of it. The route for the gas and electrical runs was agreed in advance, including removing sheetrock along a soffit to carry both from the utility room.
Project Facts
- Location
- Green Brook, NJ
- Service
- Standby Generator Installation
- Client since
- November 2020
- Manufacturer
- Generac Model # RG02724ANAX
- Rated output
- 27 kW LP / 25 kW NG
- Fuel
- Natural Gas
- Home sized for
- 8,300 sq ft
- Electrical service
- 400 amp
- Transfer switch
- 400 amp
- Load management
- Managed Whole House
Standby generator questions from Green Brook homeowners
What is a standby generator?
A permanently installed automatic backup-power system that supplies electricity to the house when utility power is unavailable. Unlike a portable, it is permanently connected to the home's electrical system through transfer equipment and normally runs on natural gas or liquid propane. When the power fails it starts on its own, carries the connected loads, and hands the house back to the utility once service returns.
Can a standby generator backfeed the utility lines?
A properly installed and functioning automatic transfer system is designed to prevent it. That is the point of the transfer switch: it stops generator power reaching the utility supply, where it could endanger line workers and damage equipment. Backfeeding is a risk of improvised connections, not of a correctly installed system.
Does a standby generator need a permit in Green Brook?
A permanently installed generator normally requires New Jersey Uniform Construction Code permits, because it involves permanent electrical and fuel work. Depending on the property and the municipality, building, zoning, floodplain, utility or fire-code review can also apply.