Resource Center
Backup Power Glossary
The terms you'll run into when planning backup power — defined in plain English, without the sales jargon. These are the same words we use when we walk a property with you.
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- Automatic Transfer Switch
- Equipment that coordinates the transition between utility power and generator power during an outage. It ensures a property draws from only one source at a time and never feeds generator power back onto the utility line.
- Electrical Load
- The amount of power the equipment you want to run draws. Generator sizing is based on your loads and how they operate together, not on square footage.
- Electrical Panel
- The load center that distributes electrical power to a building's circuits and houses the breakers that protect them.
- Essential Loads
- The circuits a homeowner chooses to keep running during an outage — typically heat, water, refrigeration and key outlets — rather than the entire home.
- Exercise Cycle
- A short, automatic self-test a standby generator runs on a schedule to keep the engine lubricated and the battery charged between outages.
- Generator Capacity
- The maximum electrical power a generator can supply, rated in kilowatts. The loads you connect draw against this capacity in real time.
- Generator Controller
- The control system that monitors utility power, starts the generator, manages the transfer sequence and logs faults and operating hours.
- Kilowatt (kW)
- 1,000 watts. Standby generators are rated in kilowatts, which describes how much load the system can support at once.
- Load Management
- A method of coordinating large electrical loads so they take turns rather than all demanding power at once, letting a generator cover a home efficiently.
- Natural Gas
- A fuel supplied continuously through a utility line, so there's no tank to refill. Available only where natural-gas service reaches the property.
- Propane
- A fuel stored on-site in a tank. Common for standby generators on rural properties without natural-gas service, since it doesn't depend on a gas utility.
- Running Load
- The steady amount of power a device draws while it is operating, after the initial starting surge has passed.
- Service Entrance
- The point where the utility's electrical service enters a building and connects to the main panel.
- Standby Generator
- A generator permanently installed outside a property that starts automatically during an outage and connects through a transfer switch. No manual starting or fueling is required.
- Starting (Surge) Load
- The brief spike of power a motor — like a well pump or air conditioner — draws when it first turns on, which can far exceed its running load.
- Transfer Equipment
- The switch and related components that move a property between utility and generator power. The automatic transfer switch is the core of this equipment.
- Utility Power
- The normal grid electricity supplied to a property by the local utility. A standby generator provides backup power when utility power fails.
- Watt (W)
- The basic unit of electrical power. Smaller devices are measured in watts; generators are rated in kilowatts (1 kW = 1,000 W).
- Whole-Home Generator
- A standby system sized and configured to carry most or all of a home's electrical load during an outage, often using load management to coordinate large appliances.
Still have questions about a term?
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