Whole-home backup power
Lights, internet, refrigerator, air conditioning. When the grid goes down, they stay on.
A standby generator is not really about the outage. It is about everything the outage would have stopped. Within seconds of utility power dropping, an automatic transfer switch moves the house to the generator, and the lights, the Wi-Fi, the refrigerator, the air conditioning, the well and the gate keep working, whether anyone is home or not.
On the generator
What stays on, room by room.
Lights
Every room, the outdoor and security lighting, and the Lutron scenes, which keep working because the dimming panels run on house power.
Internet and Wi-Fi
The modem, the router and the mesh points are inside the house, so they stay up, and so does a home phone that runs over internet service.
Refrigerator and freezer
The food, and the medication that has to stay cold. Without power, a closed refrigerator holds for about four hours. With a generator, the clock never starts.
Air conditioning
Sized for the compressors, including the surge when they start, so a heat wave outage is a non-event.
Heat and hot water
A gas furnace needs electricity for its blower, igniter and controls. Most tankless water heaters need it to fire. Both keep working.
Water
Well pumps, booster pumps and pressure tanks on hillside properties, and the treatment system that goes with them.
The gate and the garage
Motorized gates and garage doors open the way they always do, which matters most when you have to leave in a hurry.
Medical equipment
Oxygen concentrators, CPAP machines, powered beds and lifts, without a battery countdown.
Security
The alarm, the cameras, the smart locks and the video doorbell keep recording and reporting.
Home office
Computers, monitors, printers and the network. Work and school do not stop for the outage.
Kitchen
Induction and electric ranges, the ovens and the microwave, counted in the load calculation.
And the rest
EV charging, pool equipment and sump pumps, with load management deciding what waits while the big loads run.
Whole house or essential circuits
All of it, or the circuits that matter. The load calculation decides.
There are two ways to wire a standby generator. A whole-house system puts the entire panel on the generator through a service-rated automatic transfer switch, with load management that keeps the biggest motors from starting at once. An essential-circuits system moves the circuits that matter, the refrigerators, the well, the network, the lights, the furnace and one air conditioner, to a dedicated panel the generator carries, and leaves the rest off until the grid returns.
Whole-house is the simplest to live with: nothing to decide during an outage. Essential circuits uses a smaller unit and burns less fuel, which matters on propane. County Line runs the load calculation at the site visit, shows what each option carries, and writes the estimate for the one that fits the house and the way you live in it.
Without a generator
How long a house holds without power.
Without a generator, food lasts about four hours in a closed refrigerator and about 48 hours in a full freezer, and an Edison wind shutoff event can run for days.
| Without power | How long it holds | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Food in a closed refrigerator | About 4 hours | FoodSafety.gov |
| Food in a full freezer | About 48 hours; about 24 if half full | FoodSafety.gov |
| Home phone over internet service | Only as long as its backup battery, if there is one | FCC |
| Edison's January 2025 wind shutoff event | January 2 to 17; 363,196 customers de-energized | Edison report to the CPUC |
| A standby generator on natural gas | The length of the outage | County Line Electric |
On propane, a standby generator runs as long as the tank it is sized for; County Line sizes the tank from Generac's published fuel figures and your load.
When nobody is home
The house runs itself.
Most outages do not wait for you to be home. On vacation, at work or at school, the transfer switch moves the house to the generator on its own: the refrigerator stays cold, the sump pump keeps the lower level dry, the cameras keep recording, the air conditioning keeps the dog cool, and the network keeps the whole house reachable.
Generac's Mobile Link app tells you the generator started, and tells the County Line office too. When Edison restores power, the house goes back to the grid on its own. You find out it happened from the app.
County Line Electric at a glance
- 20+ yrsIn businessJeff Tucker has run County Line Electric in the Conejo Valley for over 20 years.
- #949580California contractor licenseLicensed, bonded and insured. Check it on the CSLB site any time.
- GeneracStandby generator estimatesA written estimate after a site visit and a load calculation.
- A+BBB Accredited since 2017Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau. See the profile.
- 5.0HomeAdvisor ratingFive stars from every reviewed job. Read the reviews.
What stays on: questions
Will a standby generator keep my internet on?
Your modem, router and Wi-Fi stay on, because they run on house power. The connection beyond the house depends on your provider's own equipment, from the cabinet down the street to the network behind it, and on that equipment's backup power, the same way a phone that runs over internet service needs backup power to work in an outage. California requires wireless carriers to keep at least 72 hours of backup power at their sites in the highest fire threat areas.
How long will my refrigerator stay cold without power?
Federal food safety guidance says about four hours in a closed refrigerator and about 48 hours in a full freezer, 24 if it is half full. With a standby generator the refrigerator never loses power long enough to start counting.
Can a generator run my whole house?
Yes, when it is sized for it. Most houses with gas heat and one or two air conditioning systems run entirely on a 22 to 26 kW air-cooled Generac with load management. Estates with several systems, pools and pumps use a liquid-cooled unit. County Line sizes from a load calculation.
Does it switch on when nobody is home?
Yes. The automatic transfer switch starts the generator and moves the house over within seconds of losing utility power, and hands it back when the utility returns. Nobody has to be there.
Will my Lutron lighting and smart home keep working?
Yes. The lighting control panels, processors, keypads and the network they run on are all on house power, so on the generator they work as usual. County Line wires both, which is why the circuits they need are on the generator plan from the start.
Do I need to do anything when the power goes out?
No. The transfer switch and the generator do it. What keeps it that way is service: County Line services generators twice a year, $600 for both visits, on units it installed and units other contractors installed.
Standby power
Keep reading.
Official references
Where the facts on this page come from.
County Line links to the authorities rather than restating them. Rules change; these pages are current.
- FoodSafety.gov: food safety during a power outage: refrigerator and freezer times
- Federal Communications Commission: technology transitions: phones that need backup power in an outage
- Trane: gas furnaces need electricity: blower, ignition and controls
- Rinnai: tankless water heaters in an outage: will not operate without power
- Ready.gov: power outages: what an extended outage disrupts
- Edison Medical Baseline program: for customers who depend on powered medical equipment
- California SB 969, state housing bulletin (PDF): battery backup on garage door openers since July 1, 2019
- Generac: the equipment County Line installs
- CSLB license check: license #949580
Next step
Tell us what has to stay on.
Name, phone, city and the things that cannot go dark. County Line visits the site, runs the load calculation and writes the estimate.
Or call (805) 499-0823. Monday to Friday, 9 to 5.