Tom from Farmingdale, NJ has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since September of 2016. He signed on the first of September and the generator was commissioned on the fourteenth of October, six weeks, a 16 kW Generac in a steel enclosure on its own pad behind a 200-amp service-rated switch with a power management module. It covers 2,700 square feet with two refrigerators, a freezer, a dishwasher and the laundry. A PowerBase plan has covered it since. Farmingdale is in Monmouth County.
Project Facts
- Location
- Farmingdale, NJ
- Services
- Standby Generator Installation, Standby Generator Service
- Client since
- September 2016
- Manufacturer
- Generac Model # 6462
- 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 Farmingdale homeowners
Can the existing natural-gas service in a Farmingdale home supply a generator?
Often yes, but the gas system has to be evaluated first. The review covers the generator's BTU demand, meter capacity, available pressure, regulator capacity, pipe diameter and length, and every other gas appliance in the house -- furnace, boiler, water heater, range and fireplace among them.
Does a generator produce less on natural gas than on propane?
Some models do have a lower rated maximum output on natural gas than on propane -- a current 22 kW machine is rated 22 kW on LP and 21 kW on natural gas. Other models carry their own ratings, so the model-specific specification sheet is what settles it rather than a general rule.
Will it work if nobody is home?
Yes, which is one of the main advantages over a portable generator. It has to be properly installed, fuelled, maintained, free of active shutdown alarms and left in AUTO. That matters most where an outage would otherwise stop a sump pump, the heating, refrigeration or a well pump while the house is empty.