Sankumani from Marlboro, NJ has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since June of 2019. The 8 kW standby generator at the house was installed by another company in November of 2011, and Sankumani brought it to us nearly eight years later. We began with a startup inspection, which is standard on any machine we did not install ourselves and which mattered here: the meter already read 203.2 hours. That is a great deal of work for the smallest generator in the range, and it explains the visits that followed — including one in November of 2019 where the gas line was removed and re-plumbed properly. An 8 kW unit on an essential-circuits switch is a modest machine asked to do a real job, and it needs looking at rather than assuming.
Project Facts
- Location
- Marlboro, NJ
- Service
- Standby Generator Service
- Client since
- June 2019
- Manufacturer
- Generac Model # 5870
- Rated output
- 8 kW LP / 7 kW NG
- Fuel
- Natural Gas
- Transfer switch
- 35 amp
- Load management
- Dedicated (Essential) Circuits
Standby generator questions from Marlboro homeowners
Does a generator in Marlboro have to sit twelve inches above the flood elevation?
That figure should not be treated as a universal rule without looking at the actual property. The required elevation can depend on the flood-zone designation, the municipal freeboard, the Design Flood Elevation, Coastal A or V Zone conditions, NJDEP requirements and the applicable building-code provisions. Each flood-zone installation is worked out individually.
Which way should the generator face?
Orientation has to comply with the installation instructions and must not create an unsafe exhaust or carbon-monoxide condition. Windows, doors, soffit openings, intake vents, window wells and mechanical fresh-air intakes all bear on it. Which way the machine faces is part of the site design, not an aesthetic choice made at the end.
Should gas pressure be checked while the generator is running?
Yes. Operating pressure means more than a static reading taken with the generator off. The fuel system has to hold adequate pressure while the generator runs and other appliances may also be drawing gas. That matters most when an existing residential service is being reused.