Novato Generator Installation

It comes from what you want running rather than from the square footage. Most Marin homes land between 14kW and 26kW on an air-cooled unit, covering heating, refrigeration, lighting, outlets, the network and usually one air-conditioning zone. Essential-circuit systems start around 10kW to 14kW. Larger properties with pool equipment, a well pump, several HVAC zones or a guest house generally need a liquid-cooled set of 30kW or more. The figure that actually decides it is the starting surge of your biggest motor, not the running total.

A portable unit is stored in the garage, wheeled out, started by hand and refuelled every eight to twelve hours, producing roughly 3kW to 12kW on gasoline or propane through an inlet box and interlock. A standby set is permanently installed outside, runs on natural gas or propane, produces 10kW to 60kW or more, and starts itself within thirty seconds with nobody home. The practical dividing line is whether anyone will reliably be there to deploy it.

Natural gas where PG&E serves the street, because there is no tank to site, nothing to refill and no ceiling on run time. Propane past the last gas main, which covers parts of Fairfax, west Novato and the higher lots elsewhere; it stores indefinitely and burns clean, but a tank holds a finite number of hours so a multi-day event needs a refill plan. Diesel gives the most output per unit of size and the longest run under heavy load, which is why it dominates commercial and industrial work, and it rarely makes sense on a house.

We install Generac, Kohler, Cummins and Champion, and we service those plus Caterpillar and most other makes regardless of who supplied them. Generac has the widest parts availability in this county. Kohler is quieter in several of its residential sizes. Cummins suits the larger liquid-cooled and commercial sets. Being independent of any single brand is the point: the recommendation follows the property rather than our stock.

Typically $5,000 to $15,000 in Marin, covering the unit, the concrete pad, the automatic transfer switch, the electrical and gas connections, the permit and the commissioning. Essential-circuit systems sit at the lower end and large liquid-cooled sets on big properties run above it. A service panel upgrade, a propane tank or a long trench from the meter are the three things most likely to move a quote upward.

One to three days on site. A natural gas install on a straightforward property with an adequate panel is often a single day for a crew of two; propane, a panel upgrade or a hillside position takes two or three. The longer part of the calendar comes before we arrive, because permits typically take one to three weeks depending on the town and a PG&E meter upsize can take longer than that. We file both the week the job is signed.

Yes, in every Marin town. An electrical permit always, and usually a mechanical or plumbing permit for the gas connection. Tiburon, Belvedere, Ross and the Larkspur historic core add design review for anything visible from the street, and parcels in mapped flood zones in San Anselmo and the Corte Madera flats carry elevation requirements. We file the permits, prepare the siting drawing and attend the inspection as part of the price.

It is the device that makes a standby system automatic. It watches the utility supply, signals the generator to start when that supply fails, and physically isolates your building from the grid before connecting it to the generator. That isolation is a safety requirement rather than a refinement, because backfeeding a dead line can kill the utility crew repairing it. A whole-panel switch covers everything; an essential-circuits switch covers a selected subpanel and lets a smaller machine do more.

Manufacturers generally require at least 18 inches from the wall and five feet from any openable window, door or vent, with clearance above and in front for airflow and service access. Each town then enforces its own property line setback, and several have noise limits that push the unit further from a neighbour in practice. On a narrow canyon lot in Mill Valley or on the Sausalito hillside there is sometimes only one compliant position, which is why we measure at the survey.

Modern residential units run roughly 60 to 70 dB at seven metres, about the level of a normal conversation. The part neighbours notice is the weekly self-test rather than the outage itself, so we set that to a mid-morning weekday on the shortest cycle the controller allows. Where lots are tight, a liquid-cooled unit in an acoustic enclosure is meaningfully quieter under load and usually worth the difference.

By size tier and duration. A small portable up to about 10kW runs roughly $75 to $150 a day. A mid-sized towable set of 20kW to 60kW, which covers most weddings and small job sites, is about $200 to $500 a day or $1,200 to $3,000 a month. Larger machines from 100kW upward start around $600 a day and are normally quoted monthly. Delivery, collection and the distribution equipment are inside those numbers.

Weddings and events on properties with no usable supply, construction sites before the utility connection exists, film and production units on location, wineries during crush, facilities running through a planned shutdown or a switchgear upgrade, and anyone covering a long outage or a failed machine while a part is on order. If you find yourself hiring the same set every year, that is usually the point where buying costs less.

It is agreed in writing before delivery. Short hires and events are normally delivered full and returned full, with the tank sized so the machine runs the whole event without a mid-event refuel. Longer construction and industrial hires are refuelled by us on a schedule with the fuel billed as used. Either way the arrangement is in the quote rather than a surprise afterwards.

A residential standby set needs a full service once a year, or every 100 to 200 running hours, plus the weekly self-test it runs on its own. Commercial and industrial machines are typically twice a year with an annual load bank test. The interval is driven by time as much as hours, because oil degrades and batteries age whether or not the machine has run. A skipped service is the best single predictor of a failed start.

On natural gas, effectively as long as the outage lasts, with a break for an oil service on very long runs, because the fuel arrives by pipe. On propane it depends on tank size and load; a 500-gallon tank will typically carry a mid-sized standby set for two to five days. A portable on gasoline runs eight to twelve hours per tank. Diesel sets carry their own supply and are sized around a target run time, commonly 24 to 72 hours before refuelling.

Industry surveys generally put the effect at roughly 3 to 5 percent of home value, and in a county with repeated public safety shutoffs and multi-day storm outages it is a feature buyers here ask about directly. Treat it as a genuine improvement rather than a guaranteed return. The honest reason almost everyone buys is the outages, and any resale benefit is a bonus on top.

Manufacturer-backed financing is available on most residential standby installations, typically as fixed monthly payments over two to seven years subject to credit approval, and there are periodic promotional terms from the major brands. Commercial customers more often use equipment leasing or a capital purchase, and we can quote the installation either way. We will lay out the options with the total cost of each rather than only the monthly figure.

Fuel is the main running cost and it depends on load, because a set at half load burns far less than one at full. As a rough guide, a 22kW air-cooled unit on natural gas costs a few dollars an hour at typical household load, and propane runs meaningfully higher per hour than gas. On top of that, budget for the annual service, and a battery every three years or so. Over a decade the servicing usually costs less than a single long outage in a house full of food and a freezer.