Scott from Westfield, NJ has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since September of 2020. The generator was installed by another company and commissioned in July of 2014, and the servicing came to us six years later. It has been seen every year since – September of 2020, September of 2021, October of 2022, November of 2023, October of 2024 and November of 2025 – from the six-year service through to the ten-year interval it now repeats. The battery was replaced in November of 2022, which is the most common reason a standby generator fails to start: the engine is fine, the fuel is there, and the battery has quietly died since the last time anyone asked anything of it. An annual maintenance plan covers the yearly visit.
Project Facts
- Location
- Westfield, NJ
- Service
- Standby Generator Service
- Client since
- September 2020
Standby generator questions from Westfield homeowners
How close to the house can a generator sit in Westfield?
For the air-cooled models covered by the manufacturer's listed installation guidance, the rear of the generator can be as close as eighteen inches to a qualifying structure when every condition of that listing is met. That eighteen inches is a tested installation dimension, not a zoning setback, and a municipality can require more.
Will the sump pump keep working if the power goes out?
It will if it is on the generator. This matters most in exactly the weather that causes outages: heavy rain and a power cut tend to arrive together, and a sump pump without power cannot keep a basement dry. A sump pump is one of the loads worth confirming during the survey rather than assuming.
Is every generator trench eighteen inches deep?
No. Eighteen inches is a common cover requirement for certain raceway installations, but it is not a universal generator-trench rule. The code table sets different minimum cover depending on the wiring method and where it runs.