When lake-effect wind takes the power down in January, the furnace, the sump pump and the refrigerator stop with it. A properly sized standby generator with an automatic transfer switch keeps them running without anyone touching a cord.
Tell us what the Buffalo property is doing and we'll take a look.
Buffalo's snow seasons vary enormously - the National Weather Service Buffalo office's records since 1940 range from under 40 inches to nearly 200 inches in a season - but the pattern of wind and heavy snow that damages lines shows up most years. The December 23-25, 2022 storm brought 37 consecutive hours of blizzard conditions to the Buffalo area, with winds gusting over 70 mph and nearly four feet of snow, and NWS Buffalo noted numerous power outages across Western New York. Snowfall for that season totaled 133.6 inches, the fifth snowiest on record.
An outage in those conditions is not an inconvenience. It is a house dropping toward freezing with a gas furnace that cannot run its blower or ignition, a sump pump idle during a thaw, and a household that may not be able to leave. That is why standby generators are a year-round conversation here rather than a hurricane-season one.
A portable generator requires someone to go outside in the storm, start it, and run cords - or, in the dangerous version, plug it into a dryer outlet and backfeed the house. A standby generator sits on a pad outside, runs on natural gas or propane, and starts itself through an automatic transfer switch when utility power fails. The transfer switch also isolates the house from the grid so no power flows back out onto the lines, which protects utility crews and is required by code.
Sizing starts with a load calculation. Most Buffalo households want the furnace, sump pump, refrigerator and freezer, well pump if there is one, some lighting and outlets, and often the boiler or hot water heater. That is an essential-circuits generator paired with a transfer switch that carries a subset of circuits. Whole-house units carry everything, including central air and an electric range, and require more gas supply capacity and a larger transfer switch. We size for what you actually need to run, not the biggest unit on the truck.
The electrical side is the transfer switch, a feed to the generator, the circuits moved onto the generator-backed panel or switch, and the generator's own control and battery-charger circuit. The gas side is a properly sized line from the meter with a shutoff at the unit, run by a licensed gas contractor where required. The unit itself sits on a level pad with code-required clearances from windows, doors, vents and property lines, which on Buffalo's narrow city lots takes real planning.
Permits are pulled for the electrical and gas work and the installation is inspected. Placement also has to account for snow: the unit needs to be where drifting will not bury its intake and exhaust, and where you can reach it to clear it. Once running, a standby generator exercises itself on a schedule, and we walk you through the controls, the oil change interval and what the status lights mean.
In pre-war houses with a 60- or 100-amp fuse service, a generator install almost always means addressing the panel at the same time, because there is no safe place to land a transfer switch on a fuse box. In two-family homes, the question is which unit's circuits the generator carries, and how the transfer arrangement respects the separate meters. We work those details out in the assessment and put them in the written scope so there are no surprises.
Questions
If the house has National Grid gas service and the meter can supply the additional load, natural gas is the usual choice because there is no tank to fill. Propane is the answer where there is no gas service or the existing meter cannot support the generator.
Yes, if it is sized for both plus whatever else is on the backed-up circuits. The load calculation accounts for starting loads on motors like the sump pump and the furnace blower, not just running watts.
Yes. The electrical work requires a permit and inspection, and the gas connection requires its own permit. Placement must also meet clearance requirements from the manufacturer and the code.
Yes. A manual transfer switch or interlock kit with an exterior inlet box lets you power selected circuits from the portable without running cords through windows or backfeeding through a dryer outlet, which is dangerous and illegal.
Call the local line or send the form, and we will set up a free visit to look at the wiring, the panel and the problem.
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