Hurricane season here is measured in days without power, not in wind speed. A storm that never makes landfall in Palm Beach County can still leave neighborhoods from Jupiter to Wellington dark for three or four days while FPL works down its restoration list. A standby generator carries the house through that on its own. Thomas Edison Electric installs and wires whole-home standby generator systems across Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast from our office in Jupiter, FL. Call (561) 462-2800. Florida Electrical Contractor License EC13015487.
What a standby generator actually does
A standby generator is an engine-driven unit on a pad outside the house, tied to your electrical service through an automatic transfer switch. The transfer switch is the part that matters. It watches utility voltage around the clock, signals the engine to start when power drops, and moves your load over once the generator is up to speed, usually inside half a minute. When FPL restores the street it transfers back. The NEC covers this as an optional standby system in Article 702.
Standby, or a portable and an interlock?
Not every house needs a standby unit. A portable generator feeding a generator inlet and interlock kit covers the same essentials (refrigeration, lights, fans, internet, a well pump) for a fraction of the installed cost, and it suits a household that rides out storms at home. Standby earns its keep elsewhere: a house empty part of the year, medical equipment or refrigerated medication, nobody willing to start an engine outside at 2 a.m., or central air you want kept running.
Sizing: the calculation and the conversation
Two things set the size. First, arithmetic: a load calculation per NEC Article 220 on your actual house, not a square-footage rule of thumb. Second, what you want running. NEC 702.4(B) allows either a unit rated for the whole calculated load or a smaller one paired with automatic load management, and here that second path is usually smarter, because the load nobody ignores is air conditioning. Load management lets a mid-size generator start one compressor at a time. Air-cooled residential units commonly run roughly 10 to 26 kW.
Natural gas or propane in Palm Beach County
Piped natural gas exists in parts of the county but is nowhere near universal, and plenty of streets here have no main at all, which makes propane the default. A gas line generally keeps supplying and never needs refilling, but you do not control it. A propane tank is yours, except that delivery trucks stop ahead of a storm and take days to restart, so the tank you enter the storm with is the tank you have. Tanks fill to about 80 percent, so a 500-gallon tank holds roughly 400 usable gallons; NFPA 58 sets minimum distances to the house and property line.
The pad, the clearances, and where it can legally sit
The unit needs a level pad, poured concrete or a manufactured base, anchored against wind. Palm Beach County sits outside the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone covering Miami-Dade and Broward, but design wind speeds here still make anchoring an engineered detail. The manufacturer’s instructions set clearances: air-cooled units commonly call for about 18 inches from the wall and five feet from doors, windows, and fresh-air intakes, exhaust aimed away from the building, while NFPA 37 governs separation from combustibles. Then come the local layers: side and rear setbacks, flood elevation along the Intracoastal and the barrier islands, noise limits, and very often HOA approval.
Salt air is the other design constraint
Anything east of the Intracoastal lives in salt spray, and a generator is a steel box with a radiator, an alternator, and a control board inside it. Enclosure choice matters, and so does the small stuff: stainless hardware, corrosion-inhibiting compound at conduit fittings and lugs, and a transfer switch cabinet out of direct spray. Keeping mulch, hedges, and irrigation spray off the enclosure costs nothing and adds years.
Permits and inspection in Palm Beach County
A standby generator is two trades and usually two permits: the electrical work and the fuel line. Which office issues them depends on your address, since Jupiter, Tequesta, Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, and Wellington run their own building departments while unincorporated addresses go through the county. Expect a gas or mechanical inspection on the fuel piping, and a final electrical inspection on the transfer switch, generator circuit, bonding, and grounding. Our office pulls the permits and schedules the inspections.
Maintenance and the exercise cycle
A standby unit tests itself on a schedule you choose, a few minutes every week or two. Leave that exercise cycle enabled: it circulates oil, keeps the starting battery charged, and proves the machine still runs. The most common reason a standby generator fails on the night it is finally needed is a dead starting battery, a maintenance item rather than a defect. Oil changes run on engine hours. One Florida specific: ants, wasps, and small lizards find warm control cabinets.
Do this before hurricane season, not during a warning
Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, and the worst moment to start a generator project is when a cone is on the news. Every step ahead of you has a queue: equipment lead time, an architectural review board that may meet monthly, a permit desk, a propane supplier scheduling a tank set, and an inspector’s calendar. Winter and spring are when that moves quickly. If a storm is already forming, the list is shorter: top off the propane and check the battery.
Standby generator questions
Will a standby generator run my air conditioning?
Usually yes, and it is the main reason people here buy one. Whether it carries one air handler or all of them depends on the size of the unit and whether load management is part of the design.
How long can it run during a multi-day outage?
On natural gas, as long as the gas keeps flowing and the maintenance intervals allow. On propane, until the tank runs low, which is why tank size is a design decision rather than an afterthought.
Do I need a permit, and will the HOA have opinions?
Yes to the permit: electrical, plus gas or mechanical for the fuel line. And very often yes to the association. Communities here regulate where the unit sits, how it is screened, and how loud it is.
Plan your standby generator installation
Call Thomas Edison Electric at (561) 462-2800 or request a visit online. Many standby projects begin with an electrical panel upgrade to make room for the generator circuit, and pair naturally with whole-house surge protection at the panel. For quiet coverage of the first seconds of an outage, ask about home battery backup; if the power is out right now, see emergency electrical service. A standby unit is a larger project, so ask about financing through GoodLeap, Turns, and Synchrony when we quote it. We serve Jupiter, Tequesta, Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, Wellington, Stuart, and Port St. Lucie, FL, and communities across Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.