Mast · Yakima Valley
Whole house generators for Yakima Valley homes and wells
Standby generators sized to the house and wired through a transfer switch, so wind and wildfire power shutoffs don't take the well pump and the furnace down with them.
Chapter 01
Why outages hit well owners twice
In town, a power cut means no lights and a warm fridge. On a well, it also means no water, because the pump down the casing runs on the same electricity. Jeff Hemp, a Castle pump customer, put it this way: "We have a well and took it for granted that we would always have water."
Castle's own article on whole house generators points to wind and wildfire power shutoffs in the Yakima Valley as the reason to plan ahead. Those shutoffs can last long enough to matter for a house that depends on a well for drinking water, bathing and livestock.
Castle holds the electrical contractor license (CASTLPE842NN) and has pulled well pumps in this valley since 1991, so the generator conversation starts with the pump rather than ending with it. That is useful for farms and rural properties too, where a shop, a barn and a pump house may all hang off one service and each one has to be decided on: on the generator circuit, or left off it.
Outbuilding with new conduit and a meter bank installed by Castle
Sizing and the transfer switch
Sizing starts with a list of what must keep running: the well pump, the furnace, the refrigerator, and whatever else the household cannot do without. A pump draws more power for the moment it starts than while it runs, so the generator has to be chosen for the start, not only the steady load.
A transfer switch is the piece that makes a standby generator safe. It disconnects the house from the utility lines before the generator takes over, so power cannot flow back out to the street, and it lets the generator start automatically when the power drops.
Alex and Omar, the electricians customers name most, check the panel as part of the job. If the panel is crowded or old, the generator is a good moment to deal with that too, and the same crew handles both. John Young called Alex and Omar "able to diagnose and fix our issues," which is the skill a transfer switch install leans on, since it ties the generator into the heart of the house wiring.
Chapter 03
Living with it
A standby generator that never runs is a generator that may not start the day you need it. Ask about a test routine when it is installed, so the first time it runs under load is not a real outage.
Because one company wires the generator and services the pump it feeds, there is a single number to call, (509) 580-0470, when something in the chain misbehaves. Rob Weaver and the crew cover Yakima, Selah, Naches, Moxee, Wapato, Toppenish and the rest of the valley.
Reviews describe the kind of response a generator owner wants from an electrician. One customer on vacation in Hawaii phoned Rob when the house sitter found no water, and the crew was out right away. That same readiness applies to a generator that needs attention.
"Was on vacation in Hawaii and house sitter called and said we had no water coming from well. Called Rob he responded immediately and had his guys come out asap." shane maccalla, Google review (Castle Electric LLC, Yakima, 4.7 from 135 reviews).