Joe from Farmingdale, NJ has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since January of 2013. He and Kathleen signed in mid January and the generator was commissioned in late May, an 8 kW Generac on a ten-circuit EZ switch. The load survey came back at 500 square feet to keep running with a refrigerator on it, and 8 kW covers that with room in hand. Sizing a generator is arithmetic rather than guesswork, which is why the small ones are not compromises. Farmingdale is in Monmouth County.
Project Facts
- Location
- Farmingdale, NJ
- Service
- Standby Generator Installation
- Client since
- January 2013
- Manufacturer
- Generac Model # 5870
- Rated output
- 8 kW LP / 7 kW NG
- Fuel
- Natural Gas
- Home sized for
- 500 sq ft
- Transfer switch
- 100 amp
- Load management
- Dedicated (Essential) Circuits
Standby generator questions from Farmingdale 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.
What should a Farmingdale homeowner look for in a generator installer?
A contractor who can design, permit, install, commission, maintain and repair the whole system rather than one who sells the machine. That means generator sizing and transfer equipment, disconnect and shutdown requirements, grounding and bonding, the manufacturer's own installation requirements, gas or propane capacity and pressure, the model-specific clearances, the municipal zoning setbacks, windows and vents and carbon-monoxide entry points, flood requirements where they apply, permits and inspections, utility coordination, load management, commissioning, warranty registration, monitoring and long-term service. The lowest proposal is not necessarily the lowest cost over the life of the system.
What does the kW number on a generator mean?
It is the maximum continuous output the machine is rated to produce under the manufacturer's specified conditions. A current 22 kW model, for example, is rated 22 kW on liquid propane and 21 kW on natural gas. That difference is exactly why the fuel and the model both matter when a generator is sized.