Generators
A generator is mostly an electrical project. The unit matters, but what decides whether it works when you need it is the transfer switch, the panel, and which circuits it is asked to carry.
What it involves
The generator is the visible half. These are the things that determine whether the lights actually come back on.
The component that decides which supply the house is connected to, and the single most important part of the installation. It disconnects the house from the utility before connecting the generator, which is what stops the generator back-feeding onto the network — a serious hazard to line workers and to anyone near a downed conductor. Automatic switches do this on their own when they detect an outage; manual switches are operated by you.
A generator sized to carry everything is a different purchase from one sized to carry what matters. Selected-circuit installations feed a subpanel with the circuits you have chosen — heating and cooling, refrigeration, well pump, some lighting and outlets — which is often the better value. Load management devices can also shed large loads automatically so a smaller generator copes with more.
The transfer switch has to be integrated with the existing service, and the panel determines what can be carried and how cleanly the switch can be installed. An old, full or obsolete panel is frequently the reason a generator project turns into two pieces of work — which is much better to know at the estimate stage than on installation day.
Sizing is calculated from the loads the generator has to start and run, not from the square footage of the house. Motor loads — air conditioning compressors, well pumps — draw far more when starting than when running, and that starting demand is usually what sets the size. An undersized generator does not fail gracefully; it stalls or trips when the load it cannot start tries to come on.
Natural gas or propane supply is gas work, and the pad or mounting is its own task. They are part of the project rather than part of the electrical scope, and they need coordinating — the electrical connection is usually not the item that sets the schedule.
Once connected, the installation is tested by actually simulating an outage: confirming the transfer happens, that the selected circuits come up, that the switch returns the house to utility power afterwards, and that the controls and any monitoring report correctly.
Process
Sizing and panel assessment come before the unit is chosen, not after.
Useful to include: what you want running during an outage, whether you have natural gas or propane, and a photograph of your panel and meter. That is enough to establish whether the panel needs work first.
Request a Generator EstimateBecause capacity is usually the deciding factor, generator projects and panel upgrades are frequently scoped together — and if an EV charger is also on the list, doing the service work once is considerably cheaper than doing it twice.
Questions
Because it energises the house wiring through a route that has no way to disconnect from the utility, which can push power back out onto the network. That is a lethal hazard to anyone working on the lines and to anyone near a downed conductor, and it also puts the generator's output onto circuits with no proper protection. A portable generator is used with cords to individual appliances, or connected through a properly installed inlet and transfer switch. There is no safe improvised version of this.
It comes out of a load calculation rather than a rule of thumb. The two questions are what you want running during an outage and what those loads demand when they start rather than when they run — an air conditioning compressor or a well pump can draw several times its running current for a moment at startup, and that peak usually determines the size. Whole-house coverage costs more in both the unit and the installation; selected circuits sized properly often serves people better.
Sometimes. The transfer switch has to be integrated with the service, and a selected-circuit installation usually means moving circuits into a subpanel, both of which need somewhere to land. A panel that is full, damaged or obsolete is likely to need addressing first. It is assessed before the generator is specified, so the whole cost is visible at the start.
They self-test periodically, and that test is worth paying attention to rather than ignoring — a unit that has not run for a year is a unit that may not start. Beyond the manufacturer's servicing schedule for the engine, the electrical side is worth checking periodically: the transfer switch operating correctly, connections sound, and the battery healthy, since a flat starting battery is a common reason a generator does not come on.
This page deliberately does not name brands or claim any manufacturer authorisation, because that is a commercial relationship that has to be real before it is advertised. The electrical work — transfer switch, service connection, subpanel, sizing, commissioning — is the same set of decisions whichever unit is installed, and that is what determines whether it works when you need it.
Tell us what you want to keep running and we will work out what that takes — starting with whether your panel can support it.