Matawan Fire House in Matawan, NJ has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since May of 2015. The generator was commissioned at the end of August, a 16 kW Generac in a steel enclosure on its own pad wired to a sixteen-circuit switch, covering 1,500 square feet and two refrigerators. A firehouse is the one building on a street that cannot afford to go dark in a storm, because it is where everybody else turns when theirs does. Matawan is in Monmouth County.
Project Facts
- Location
- Matawan, NJ
- Service
- Standby Generator Installation
- Client since
- May 2015
- Manufacturer
- Generac Model # 6461
- Rated output
- 16 kW LP / 16 kW NG
- Fuel
- Natural Gas
- Home sized for
- 1,500 sq ft
- Electrical service
- 200 amp
- Transfer switch
- 100 amp
- Load management
- Dedicated (Essential) Circuits
Standby generator questions from Matawan homeowners
How deep does the electrical conduit have to be buried?
It depends on the wiring method and the location; there is no single burial depth for every installation. The National Electrical Code governs underground wiring and sets minimum cover in a table, and the conduit type, the location and the physical protection all change the answer.
What should a Matawan 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.
Can the generator be connected to any nearby gas pipe?
No. The branch supplying the generator has to be sized for the flow and pressure the machine needs. A pipe that happens to be close by may be too small, or may already be carrying too much load. Undersized piping shows up as poor starting, unstable running, reduced output or a generator that shuts down under load.