Standby generators rarely break the way people expect. The machine does not wear out from running, because it barely runs. It deteriorates from sitting: a battery slowly losing its ability to crank, oil that has not been changed in years, a connection that corroded quietly, a rodent that moved into a warm enclosure. Then the power goes out, the unit tries to start for the first time under real demand, and everything that was already wrong arrives at once.
That is the honest framing for most repair calls. It is not a defect and it is not bad luck. A generator that is never serviced is a generator that fails on the day it is needed, and the day it is needed is the worst possible time to discover it. Repair work fixes what failed. Whether the unit is dependable afterward depends on what happens in the years after the technician leaves.
Whether it cranked, started and quit, or never tried at all, and whether it had been exercising normally. That description narrows the search before anyone opens a panel.
Battery, fuel supply, and any stored fault the controller is holding. A large share of calls end here, which is why a good technician checks them before selling parts.
A machine that idles happily can still fail when it is asked to carry the house. Testing under load is how intermittent faults stop being mysterious.
The fix is verified by simulating an outage rather than by starting the engine and calling it good. You should see it start, transfer, carry, and hand back.
Repair pricing turns on what failed and how long it went unnoticed. A battery or a fuel-supply problem is a different conversation than a controller, or an engine that ran for years without an oil change. Access matters, since a unit sited tight against a wall takes longer to work on than one with clearance around it. Parts availability for older machines can stretch the job out. If the failure is at the transfer switch rather than the engine, the work moves back toward the panel and the scope changes with it. Ask any technician to separate diagnosis from repair on the invoice.
Because the exercise cycle is a short, unloaded self-test. It proves the engine can start and run briefly with nothing asked of it. It does not prove the battery can crank under cold conditions, that the fuel supply can carry a real load, or that the transfer switch will hand the house over. Plenty of units exercise faithfully for years and still fail the first time it counts.
Usually the controller protecting the machine from something it is measuring. Fuel supply that cannot sustain the unit under load, an oil or temperature condition, or a sensor reporting a genuine fault are all common. It is worth treating as information rather than a glitch. Repeatedly restarting a unit that keeps shutting itself down is how a repair becomes a replacement.
Usually, yes. Service companies routinely take on units they did not install, and orphaned equipment is common enough that it is not a strange request. Expect a first visit that looks more like an assessment than a repair, since the technician is meeting the installation for the first time and needs to know what was done and what has been skipped since.
It depends on what failed and on the state of everything around it. A neglected unit with one clear failure is often worth fixing. A unit that has been through years without service, where each visit finds the next problem, is a different calculation. Ask the technician to tell you what else they saw, not only what they came for. That answer usually decides it.
The permanent version: a unit set outside on a base, plumbed for fuel, wired through a transfer switch, permitted and inspected. We connect you with installers who treat the gas side and the electrical side as one job.
Learn more →The switch is what separates your house from the utility while the generator runs. Without one, power can travel back down the line toward the crews working on it. This is the part of the job nobody should improvise.
Learn more →Oil, filters, battery, fuel connections, and a real test under load rather than the self-exercise the unit runs on its own. A generator that is never serviced is a generator that fails on the day you needed it.
Learn more →Before equipment gets chosen, someone should walk the property: where a unit can legally sit, how far that is from the gas supply and the panel, and what you actually need running when the power is out.
Learn more →Get the siting and scope sorted before anyone quotes equipment.
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