Natural gas vs. propane, panel capacity, and load management — the decisions that set your real installed cost.
The honest way to size a standby generator is a load calculation: your panel size, your heating system, your major appliances, and what you want running during an outage. Square footage alone is a poor proxy — a 2,000 square foot all-electric home with a heat pump needs a bigger unit than a 2,500 square foot gas-heated home. Any installer who sizes from square footage without looking at your panel is guessing.
In Hartford, West Hartford, and much of Manchester, natural gas service is available and is the default fuel. The advantage is simple: the fuel never runs out in a long outage, and there is no tank to fill or monitor. The check that matters is meter capacity — if your meter can't feed the generator plus furnace, water heater, and range simultaneously, the utility upgrades it.
In outlying areas and parts of Glastonbury, propane is the fuel. A 500-gallon tank typically covers a week or more of essential-load running, and a fill contract with a local supplier means you are not hunting for fuel during a storm. Tank placement follows setback rules, and buried tanks cost more than above-ground ones but disappear into the yard.
On a 200-amp panel with spare breaker space, the install is straightforward. On a 100-amp panel — common in pre-war West Hartford colonials and older Manchester homes — the choice is a panel upgrade or a managed-load switch. Both are legitimate; the right one depends on your loads and your budget, and a good installer explains the trade-off at the walkthrough.
Two minutes. Matched with a local installer. Free written estimate, no obligation.