Manjit from Pennington, NJ has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since October of 2017. The 17 kW standby generator at the house was installed by another company in November of 2011, and Manjit brought its servicing to us six years later — the same year we took on the generator at the Citgo station Manjit owns a few minutes away, so both the business and the house are covered by the same hands. The two-year and six-year services were carried out here, the second completed in February of 2021 with 299.8 hours on the meter and the fuel plenum inspected and clear of rust. Three hundred hours is close to two straight weeks of running, which puts this among the hardest-worked machines we look after.
Project Facts
- Location
- Pennington, NJ
- Service
- Standby Generator Service
- Client since
- October 2017
- Manufacturer
- Generac Model # 5885
- Rated output
- 17 kW LP / 16 kW NG
- Fuel
- Natural Gas
- Electrical service
- 200 amp
- Transfer switch
- 65 amp
- Load management
- Managed Whole House
Standby generator questions from Pennington homeowners
Can the existing natural-gas service in a Pennington home supply a generator?
Often yes, but the gas system has to be evaluated first. The review covers the generator's BTU demand, meter capacity, available pressure, regulator capacity, pipe diameter and length, and every other gas appliance in the house -- furnace, boiler, water heater, range and fireplace among them.
What happens when the utility power comes back?
The system detects the return of acceptable utility power and transfers the house back automatically. The generator then runs through a programmed cool-down before shutting off and returning to standby. Nobody has to switch anything back by hand.
Can a standby generator backfeed the utility lines?
A properly installed and functioning automatic transfer system is designed to prevent it. That is the point of the transfer switch: it stops generator power reaching the utility supply, where it could endanger line workers and damage equipment. Backfeeding is a risk of improvised connections, not of a correctly installed system.