Generator Safety

If you plan to use a portable gen­er­a­tor, here are some impor­tant safe­ty pre­cau­tions:

Read all instruc­tions care­ful­ly and fol­low the manufacturer’s rec­om­men­da­tions.
Nev­er run your gen­er­a­tor indoors or in your garage. Gen­er­a­tors should only be run in a well ven­ti­lat­ed area. Gaso­line-pow­ered gen­er­a­tors pro­duce car­bon monox­ide and the fumes can be dead­ly if there is not ade­quate ven­ti­la­tion.
Plug appli­ances direct­ly into the gen­er­a­tor using heavy-duty, prop­er­ly ground­ed exten­sion cords.
Make sure that exten­sion cords are not frayed or worn.
Lim­it the elec­tri­cal load placed on the gen­er­a­tor to no more than the rec­om­mend­ed wattage.
Do not con­nect your pow­er gen­er­a­tor direct­ly to your home­’s main fuse box or cir­cuit pan­el.
Use the gen­er­a­tor only when nec­es­sary.
Turn the gen­er­a­tor off at night while you sleep and when you are away from home.
If you have any ques­tions about how to prop­er­ly use a portable elec­tric gen­er­a­tor, con­tact the man­u­fac­tur­er or a licensed elec­tri­cian for assis­tance.

How to Prevent Carbon Monoxide (CO) Poisoning While Using a Generator

A portable generator runs outdoors.

USE OUTDOORS

Keep gen­er­a­tors and oth­er fueled devices out­doors, away from doors, win­dows, and vents that could eas­i­ly allow car­bon monox­ide to come indoors.

STAY ALERT

Car­bon monox­ide can’t be seen or smelled, but it can rapid­ly lead to inca­pac­i­ta­tion and death. If you feel sick, dizzy, or weak while using a gen­er­a­tor, go out­side imme­di­ate­ly. Open­ing doors and win­dows or using fans will not pre­vent CO buildup or quick­ly “air out” your home.

AVOID FLAMES

Nev­er use a grill, camp stove, or oth­er gaso­line, propane, nat­ur­al gas, or char­coal-burn­ing devices indoors, where Car­bon monox­ide can build up and ignite.

INSTALL ALARMS

Install CO alarms in cen­tral loca­tions of your home to pro­vide ear­ly warn­ing of accu­mu­lat­ing car­bon monox­ide. Test the bat­ter­ies fre­quent­ly and replace them when need­ed. If the car­bon monox­ide alarm sounds, move quick­ly to a fresh air loca­tion out­doors.

Energy Solutions

There are lots of ways to save mon­ey on your elec­tric bill, and we’ve got the info.