Generator Installation in Portland, OR & the Metro Area

Backup power wired in safely: a standby unit that starts itself, or an inlet for your portable. We install the brand you choose, across Portland, Wilsonville, West Linn, and surrounding communities.

A standby generator sits outside on a pad, is permanently connected to the house, and starts itself when the power goes out. The part that makes it safe is the automatic transfer switch. When utility power fails, the switch disconnects the house from the PGE or Pacific Power line before it connects the generator, and when the line comes back it switches over and shuts the unit down. Without that break, power would push back out onto the utility line, where a lineworker expects it to be dead. Expect a standby generator installation to take 1 to 2 days.

A portable generator needs the same protection, worked by hand. We mount an inlet on an outside wall and fit a manual transfer switch or a panel interlock — a plate that lets the generator breaker go on only when the main is off. In an outage you plug the portable into the inlet, flip the main off and the generator breaker on, and your chosen circuits run from the panel instead of from extension cords. A cord back-fed into a dryer outlet is never the answer; it puts power on the utility line.

Sizing follows the circuits, not the house. Tell us which loads must stay on — heat, the fridge, a sump pump, medical equipment — and that list sets the unit size and whether the switch covers the whole panel or chosen circuits. On any generator installation the electrical side is ours: wiring, inlet, transfer switch or interlock, and the inspection. A standby unit's gas line is run by a licensed gas fitter from your NW Natural service or a propane tank.