Generator Installation in Arundel, Maine

Outages in Arundel are usually about trees. The town has about 45 miles of town roads, many of them lined with woods, and heavy wet snow brings down limbs faster than any other kind of storm. On April 4, 2024, sticky snow and strong easterly winds knocked out power across southeastern New Hampshire and southwest Maine. When the lights go out here, the oil burner stops, and in homes on private wells the water stops too. Wood stoves heat about 10 percent of Arundel homes, but a stove alone does not keep a sump pump or a freezer running.

A whole-home standby generator is the most complete answer. It starts automatically, carries the house through the outage and hands back to utility power when the line is restored. Since there is no utility gas in town, standby units here run on propane, which already heats about 22 percent of homes, so many households have a tank that can be sized up. A manual transfer switch or an interlock kit with an outdoor inlet is a lower-cost path for owners with a portable generator, and it lets them power the well pump, furnace or boiler, refrigerator and a few lights without extension cords through a window.

Arundel's electrical permit fee schedule lists generators by size, starting with the first 10 kilowatts, and inspections need 48 hours' notice. The size decision matters: a well pump starting up draws a surge, and a generator has to handle that alongside the boiler and refrigerator. Goodnow Electric sizes the generator to the loads, installs the transfer switch, and pulls the permit. Placement is usually simple on Arundel's larger lots, but the unit still needs clearance from windows and doors and a level pad. Keeping the propane line short, the unit out of the path of roof snow and ice, and the exhaust pointed away from the house are all worth planning up front. A weekly automatic exercise cycle and yearly maintenance keep a standby unit ready for the next storm.