Rick in Farmingdale has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since December of 2012. He signed for the generator a week before Christmas and it was commissioned the following May.
The generator, from 2013
The machine is a Generac Guardian 20 kW home standby, model 6244. It delivers 18 kW on natural gas, which is what this 2,000 square foot house runs on, and it sits behind a 200-amp service-rated transfer switch mounted indoors beside the service panel in the garage.
A service-rated switch takes the place of the main disconnect rather than sitting behind it, so the generator is wired in where the power enters the house instead of partway down the line. One enclosure on the wall instead of two.
It is a whole-house switch with load management, which on this property has two air conditioners to think about, a two-ton and a three-ton, alongside two gas furnaces, two refrigerators, an electric oven, the dishwasher, the garbage disposal, the microwave, the washer and a gas dryer.
It was last serviced on 14 April 2026, which is the part of this page that actually matters. A generator installed in 2013 and still on a service cycle in 2026 is not a story about the machine. It is a story about somebody turning up.
4,827 square feet washed in May
On 7 May 2026 we came back and soft washed 4,827 square feet of the exterior — a different trade entirely, thirteen years after the first job.
Soft washing does the work chemically rather than mechanically: a sodium hypochlorite and surfactant solution goes on at low pressure, is left to kill the algae and mildew growing on the surface, and is rinsed off. Pressure alone lifts the staining and leaves the growth rooted where it is, so the house is green again the following season.
Project Facts
- Location
- Farmingdale, NJ
- Services
- Softwash Service, Standby Generator Installation, Standby Generator Service
- Client since
- December 2012
Standby generator
- Manufacturer
- Generac Model # 6244
- Rated output
- 20 kW LP / 18 kW NG
- Fuel
- Natural Gas
- Home sized for
- 2,000 sq ft
- Transfer switch
- 0 amp
- Load management
- Managed Whole House
Exterior cleaning
- Surface cleaned
- 4,827 sq ft
Glen and his company are the best
Green Sun Energy Services replied
Thank you. Glen will be embarrassed and pleased in roughly equal measure. Yours is a long relationship: a generator at the house in Farmingdale since 2013, and a soft wash of the exterior in 2026. Coming back to us for something completely different thirteen years later is the compliment we value most.
Questions from Farmingdale homeowners
Standby generatorDoes a generator keep the well running during an outage in Farmingdale?
Yes, when the well pump is included in the design. A private well pump is electric, so without power there is no running water at all -- a different order of problem from losing the lights. Homes on a well are among the clearest cases for standby power, and the pump belongs on the load list from the start.
Soft washingWhy are surfactants used in soft washing?
Surfactants help the cleaning solution wet and cling to surfaces rather than immediately running off. They can improve contact between the treatment and biological contamination. The product must still be compatible with the material being cleaned.
Soft washingCan soft washing clean brick siding?
Yes, particularly where the primary issue is organic staining. More durable masonry may sometimes benefit from controlled pressure after pretreatment. Older or deteriorated mortar should be treated more conservatively.