Guide for Litchfield County homeowners
Outages, wells and generator sizing in the Litchfield Hills
Rural lines, tree cover and long feeders mean outages here last longer than in town. Three things decide what generator a Litchfield County house needs: how long you need to ride out, whether you're on a well, and what fuel you have.
How long outages last here
Tropical Storm Isaias (August 2020) is the recent benchmark. Two days after it hit, more than 50,000 Eversource customers in Litchfield County were still out. Customers still out in a sample of towns at that point:
| Town | Customers out |
|---|---|
| New Milford | 6,578 |
| Torrington | 5,670 |
| Kent | 1,944 |
| Sharon | 1,789 |
| Salisbury | 1,217 |
| Cornwall | 1,201 |
Source: Eversource outage figures as reported by Daily Voice, August 2020. Eversource serves about 102,000 customers in the county.
If you're on a private well
No power means no well pump, which means no running water and no flushing. About a quarter of Connecticut residents rely on private wells, concentrated in rural towns like these. A well pump draws a large surge when it starts, so it needs to be in the load calculation. At least one Connecticut installer's smallest package, 14 kW, is explicitly sized to include a well pump.
Propane or natural gas
Natural gas lines reach parts of the larger towns, but much of the Northwest Corner has none. Without a gas line the generator runs on propane. Ask the installer to size the tank for several days of running, and talk to your propane dealer early: tank sets have their own schedule.
Permits in Connecticut
- An electrical permit for the generator and transfer switch, pulled by a licensed electrician.
- A gas or propane permit for the fuel line, done by a licensed gas fitter.
- Sometimes a building permit, and zoning setbacks that vary by town.
- Inland wetlands review if the pad or trench is near wetlands. Some towns, such as Washington, review activity within 100 feet.
Questions to ask any installer
- What's the load calculation, and does it include the well pump starting?
- How big a propane tank, and how many days will it run?
- Who pulls the permits, and is that in the price?
- What's the maintenance plan, and how fast do you service units after a storm?
- What's the realistic install date from signing?