San Diego · Generator Services
Backup Generators
Portable, standby and towable backup power for homes and small businesses, from an interlock kit and a wheeled unit to a fully automatic installation.
Backup Generators · San Diego
What Backup Power Actually Means
Backup generators cover a wider range of equipment than most people picture when they call. At one end is a portable unit on wheels, wired into the house through a generator inlet and a breaker interlock so it can safely feed selected circuits without extension cords running under a door. At the other is a fully automatic standby installation that nobody has to touch. In between sits partial-load coverage, which is a smaller permanent unit and a transfer switch covering eight to twelve circuits, and towable units for temporary or seasonal use. Which one is right depends on how long your outages last, how often they happen, whether anybody will be home when they do, and what you actually cannot afford to lose. We sell and install all of it, including back-up generators for households that have decided a full whole house generator is more than they need. Gas generators, propane units and diesel are all in play, and the fuel decision changes the runtime math considerably. If you already have a unit and it will not start, that is generator repair rather than a new purchase, and it is usually cheaper than you fear.
Why Buy Backup Power From Us
The most common thing we do on a backup power call is talk somebody out of the expensive version. Plenty of households in Chula Vista, Vista and El Cajon who called about a full automatic install turned out to need a 9kW portable, an inlet box and an interlock kit, which is a fraction of the cost and covers the refrigerator, the furnace, the internet and enough lighting to live normally. Plenty of others called about a portable and needed the automatic unit because of a medical device or a well pump. Getting that judgment right is worth more than any discount on equipment. We are C-10 licensed, so the inlet and interlock work is permitted and done properly rather than by somebody with a suicide cord, and we carry Generac, Kohler, Cummins, Briggs and Champion generators so the recommendation is not driven by what is in the warehouse.
- Straight advice on portable versus standby before any equipment gets quoted, including the option that costs us less.
- Generator inlets and breaker interlock kits installed to code and permitted, so a portable can feed the panel safely.
- Every fuel type covered: gasoline, propane, natural gas and diesel, with honest runtime numbers for each.
- Champion, Briggs & Stratton, Generac, Kohler and Cummins generators, portable through standby.
- Same crew handles the upgrade path, so a portable today does not mean a different company tomorrow.
- Emergency repair on whatever you already own, whoever sold it to you.
Reasons To Get Backup Power
The calls come in for a fairly narrow set of reasons, and most people arrive with one of these already in mind:
Fire season shutoffs
The utility de-energizes lines in the eastern half of the county when conditions get bad enough, and those outages run for days rather than hours. Households in Poway, Escondido, Alpine and Ramona treat back-up generators as seasonal infrastructure at this point.
A freezer, a fridge and a week of groceries
A full freezer holds temperature for about 48 hours unopened and a refrigerator for about four. Anything past that is a few hundred dollars of food and a decision about which leftovers are still safe. It is the most common reason a portable gets bought.
Working from home
Internet, laptops, monitors, a network switch and a coffee machine are a small load and an outsized inconvenience. A modest portable through an interlock covers all of it, and a standby unit covers it without you leaving the desk.
Medical equipment in the house
Oxygen concentrators, CPAP, nebulizers, powered beds and refrigerated medication move this out of the convenience category. Those households should be on automatic transfer rather than anything that needs starting by hand.
A well, a sump or a septic pump
Rural properties east of the 15 lose water first and drainage second. A pump has a heavy starting draw, so the unit has to be sized for it rather than for the running watts printed on the motor plate.
A small business that cannot close
Restaurants with walk-ins, dental offices mid-procedure, dispensaries with vaults and salons with a full book all lose real money in an outage. Those usually belong on a commercial standby system, but a rented or portable unit bridges the gap while it is being installed.
Tell us what you cannot afford to lose and roughly how long your outages last, and we will tell you which of the three answers fits. Call: (619) 257-2867
How We Set Backup Power Up
Same sequence whether it ends in a portable and an inlet or a full automatic install.
1. Work out the real load
We list what has to stay on, add up running watts, then add the starting surge for anything with a motor in it. That number decides whether you are shopping for a 7kW portable or a 22kW standby, and it is the step people skip when they buy from a big-box shelf.
2. Pick the equipment and the connection
Portable plus inlet and interlock, permanent unit with a load-center transfer switch, or full automatic transfer. We quote the option that matches the load and the budget, and we will tell you what the upgrade path costs if you want to start small.
3. Install and permit
Inlet boxes, interlocks and transfer switches all need an electrical permit and an inspection. We pull it, do the work, and meet the inspector. This is the part that separates a safe installation from a backfeed hazard.
4. Test it and show you how it runs
We run the house on generator power with you standing there, walk through starting, transferring, refueling and shutting down, and leave you with the numbers you actually need: runtime per tank, what not to plug in, and when to service it.
Portables, Interlocks, Standby Units And Runtime
The pieces of a backup power setup and what each one is really for:
Portable generators
Wheeled units from about 3kW to 12kW running on gasoline, propane or both. Cheap, flexible and completely manual: you roll it out, fuel it, start it and shut it down. Inverter models are much quieter and produce clean power for electronics. The limits are runtime, noise and the fact that somebody has to be home.
Generator inlet and breaker interlock
The right way to connect a portable to the house. An inlet box on the exterior wall feeds a dedicated breaker in the panel, and a mechanical interlock makes it physically impossible to have the generator breaker and the main breaker on at the same time. It costs a few hundred dollars installed, needs a permit, and it replaces the tangle of extension cords entirely.
Partial-load standby
A smaller permanent unit, often 11kW to 18kW, wired to a load-center transfer switch that covers a chosen set of circuits. Fully automatic, much cheaper than whole-house transfer, and for most households it covers everything they noticed missing during the last outage.
Whole house standby
The full version, covered in detail on the whole house generator page. Automatic, unlimited runtime on natural gas, and the only option that genuinely requires nothing from you during an outage.
Runtime by fuel
A gasoline portable runs roughly 8 to 12 hours on a full tank at half load, and gasoline goes stale in three to six months without stabilizer. Propane stores indefinitely and a 20lb barbecue cylinder gives about 5 to 8 hours on a mid-size portable, while a 500 gallon tank runs a standby unit for days. Natural gas is unlimited as long as the main is live. Diesel is the most efficient per gallon and is what the towable rental units use for long jobs.
Battery storage and solar
A battery is silent, needs no fuel and covers short outages beautifully, but a typical home battery holds about half a day of essentials and then needs sun or grid to recover. Solar without a battery shuts down in an outage for safety. Batteries and generators solve different halves of the problem, and plenty of houses in Carlsbad and Encinitas end up with both.
Towable and event backup
For a wedding, a film shoot, a fair or a construction phase, buying makes no sense. Trailer generators are delivered, connected, fueled and collected, and the sound-attenuated versions are quiet enough for a ceremony. That work lives on the generator rental page.
What Backup Power Costs
The range here is wider than any of our other services because the equipment is so different at each end. Roughly:
- A portable generator alone: $500 to $2,500 depending on output, inverter technology and dual-fuel capability.
- Generator inlet plus breaker interlock installed and permitted: usually $600 to $1,400, depending on panel type and where the inlet has to go.
- Partial-load standby with a load-center transfer switch: commonly $4,000 to $8,000 installed on a straightforward lot.
- Full whole-house standby with a service-rated automatic transfer switch: $5,000 to $15,000 installed, itemized on the whole house page.
- Fuel. Gasoline and propane are ongoing costs during an outage; natural gas barely registers on a bill; diesel is efficient but needs storage and periodic polishing.
- Panel work. Older or full panels sometimes need a subpanel or an upgrade before any transfer equipment can be added, and we quote that separately rather than burying it.
We will quote whichever of those actually fits, including the cheap one. If a portable and an interlock covers what you need, that is what we will recommend, and the upgrade to an automatic Whole House Generator stays available whenever you want it. The same crew covers backup power for homes and businesses across the county, so moving up later never means finding a new vendor.
Frequently Asked Questions
How big a backup generator do I need?
Add up the running watts of everything you want on at the same time, then add the starting surge of the largest motor, which is typically two to three times its running figure. Essentials only, meaning a refrigerator, a furnace blower, the internet and some lighting, is usually 3kW to 5kW. Add well pump or air conditioning and you are at 7kW to 12kW on a portable or 14kW and up on a standby unit. A free load calculation takes us about twenty minutes on site and stops you buying the wrong thing.
Can I just run extension cords from a portable generator?
You can, and plenty of people do, but it limits you to whatever reaches and it leaves out anything hardwired, which means no furnace, no well pump and no lighting circuits. Never connect a portable to a wall outlet to feed the panel. That backfeeds the utility line, can kill a lineman working on the outage, and can destroy your generator when power returns. A permitted inlet and interlock is a few hundred dollars and solves the problem properly.
How long can a backup generator run continuously?
A gasoline portable runs 8 to 12 hours on a tank at half load and should be shut down and cooled before refueling. Propane depends on the tank: about 5 to 8 hours on a 20lb cylinder, several days on a 500 gallon residential tank. A natural gas standby unit runs indefinitely as long as the gas main is live, which is the main reason we prefer it wherever a meter exists. Diesel units are the most fuel-efficient and are what we use for multi-week jobs.
Are portable generators safe to use at home?
They are, with two rules that are not negotiable. Run it outdoors only, at least 20 feet from the house with the exhaust pointing away, because carbon monoxide from a portable running in a garage or under an eave kills people every winter in the United States. And connect it through a permitted inlet and interlock rather than into a wall receptacle. Beyond that, keep it dry, keep fuel stored safely, and let it cool before refueling.
Will a backup generator run my air conditioning?
A single central air conditioning compressor typically needs 3kW to 5kW running and two to three times that for the few seconds it starts, so realistically you need a 14kW or larger standby unit, or a very large portable with a soft-start module installed on the compressor. Soft-start kits are inexpensive and cut the surge substantially, which sometimes brings air conditioning within reach of a unit that could not otherwise carry it. In San Diego summers this is worth asking about specifically.
Do I need to maintain a backup generator I rarely use?
Yes, and the units that fail during an outage are almost always the ones nobody touched. A standby unit exercises itself weekly and needs an annual service: oil, filter, plugs, battery test and a run under load. A portable needs the fuel stabilized or drained, the oil changed every 50 to 100 running hours, and a start every few months. A dead battery and stale fuel are the two most common reasons a generator does not start when it is finally needed.
Need a generator in San Diego?
Tell us the address and what you need backed up, and we will come out and put a free estimate in your hands.
Or call us now: (619) 257-2867