Home Generator Safety Tips

Home generators can be a real lifesaver during bad weather, keeping your home or business running regardless of what’s happening outside. I’ve compiled some generator safety tips to help you use your new generator efficiently and carefully!

Don’t Use a Generator Indoors

Generators contain internal combustion engines that emit carbon monoxide, a deadly gas with no smell or color that easily floods indoor spaces. Run your generator outside—not even in your garage or shed—in a well-ventilated, dry area. And keep it away from home ventilation! You don’t want your generator’s exhaust fumes coming into your house.

Don’t Connect Your Home Generator Directly to Your Wiring

Called “backfeed,” a generator can send power into the lines connected to your home, damaging utility equipment and even risking electrocuting energy works miles and miles away.

Newer generator models can be installed with a switch that automatically disconnects your house from the power grid when your generator is running. More sophisticated models like GE’s come with automatic transfer switches that detect power outages and help prioritize sending power to appliances.

Don’t Overload Your Generator

Picking the right sized generator and not overloading it with too many appliances is really important. On my other blog, Home Generator Source, I talk about picking the right size generator—check it out! Too many appliances with too high of wattage on your generator can cause fires in the power cord, broken appliances, and other dangerous, expensive household issues.

For more on picking the best standby generator for your house check out GE Home Generators’s interactive Generator Sizing Guide or Home Depot's Sizing Guide.

Store Generator Fuel Outside

Keep gas for your generator in an appropriate, non-glass container and far, far away from water heaters or anything else with a pilot light! Heavier than air, gasoline vapor can ignite with the slightest spark and cause major damage to garages, sheds, and more. Don’t smoke nearby and keep a fire extinguisher close too!

Looking for a faster read than this? Briggs & Stratton has a quick and dirty list of generator safety tips!

Home Generator Maintenance How-To’s and Quick Tips

Home Generator Maintenance How-To’s and Quick Tips

Home Generator image from GE

Buying a home standby generator is a huge investment! While a lot of maintenance is best left to the pros—check your generator manufacturer’s site for nearby dealers—there are a few precautions you can take to make sure you have power under any circumstances. Below are some of the dealer pages for some large generator brands:

Kohler Dealers

Generac Dealers

GE Home Generators Dealers

Lennox Dealers

Why Should I Use Fuel Additives?

Keep gum from forming in and around fuel system as the generator sits unused by adding a stabilizer (sometimes called fuel preserver) to the fuel tank and extra gas in storage. Use the stabilizer according to package directions and then run your generator for a few minutes to circulate the solution through the carburetor.

This said, if you use the generator only in emergencies, leave the tank empty.

What Kind of Oil is Right for My Generator?

Amazon.com’s Generator Buying Guide has some solid guidelines:

“Above 40°F, use SAE 30. Below 40°F and down to 10°F, use 10W-30. Below 10°F, use synthetic 5W-30.”

Generator from Kohler

Make sure your home standby generator has enough oil in it to keep it running smoothly and maintain your engine’s lifespan. Many generators shut down automatically to protect the engine if the level gets too low. To keep yours protected and ready-to-go, check the oil level whenever you add fuel by checking the dipstick and filling to the full marker. Keep a few quarts of oil on hand in case of emergencies.

Inspect Replaceable Parts Regularly

In addition to the engine oil, check out your carburetor, air filter, fuel filter, and spark plug regularly according to your home generator owner manual. 

Generator Sizing - How big of a Generator do I need?

Generator photo from GE Home Generators' website.

You are ready to protect your home from disaster and power loss - that's great! Your kids, significant other, pets, and food in the refrigerator thank you!

But what size generator do you need for your home? This is a very common question among any homeowner considering a home generator.

In deciding generator size, you basically need to consider two important things:

1. What is the square footage of your home?
2. What are the power requirements for your central air conditioning system?

Finding out these two things are a great start to determining how much power your home will need in the event of a power outage. 

In order to figure out the amount of power your air conditioner uses, all you need to do is find the nameplate on the unit. That nameplate should have the BTU rating. That BTU rating will help you determine the tonnage needed for the air conditioning unit. 12,000 BTU is equal to one ton of cooling power. Now just add up the BTUs to figure out the cooling tonnage.

Once you have these two pieces of information it would be helpful to find a generator sizing guide to help you find the best generator for your needs. There are several generator sizing guides out there, feel free to try any of these:

• GE Home Generators Generator Sizing Guide
• Home Depot's Sizing Guide
• Generac's Sizing Guide
• Honda's  Sizing Guide
• Yamaha's Sizing Guide

You can also contact a licensed electrician and he will be able to give you an accurate understanding of what you need.

Home Generator Brands

Home Generator Brands

If you have seen the news lately you have no doubt seen a fair-share of natural disasters. Disaster preparedness is always a popular topic after a string of natural disasters. One of the best ways you can protect your home and family in the event of a disaster is with a home backup generator. As our lives depend increasingly more on electricity, home backup power becomes increasingly more important. There are a wide selection of generators and it can sometimes be difficult or confusing to find the right one to fit your power needs. Below I have compiled a list of some great places to start your search for a home standby generator. Each brand makes generators for home use and their websites have tools to help make your generator search easier. For more information feel free to click on the links and browse their sites:

Home Generators by GE:

Home Generators by GE are actually built by Briggs & Stratton, famous for their lawn mower parts and small engines. GE offer a wide-variety of generators for home use including a variety of sizes and and two fuel-types - propane generators and natural gas generators. GE Home Generators's website also has a handy little generator-sizing tool and buying guide so you can find the generator that best fits your home needs.

Kohler Generators: 

Kohler has a broad scope generators covering industrial, rental, home, marine, mobile, and business backup power needs. Within their residential generators they carry home and propane generators and have power-capacities ranging from 8.5kW to 125kW.

Cummins Generators:

Like Kohler, Cummins also sells a variety of generators, from RV to Marine, commercial to residential. They offer a host of power options and, like GE Home Generators, they also have a handy generator sizing guide found here.

Generac Generators:

Generac make commercial, RV, portable, industrial, and residential generators. Within their home generator selection they offer generators in groups called "Series." The first is the Guardian Series, with power anywhere from 8kW to 60kW. The CorePower series generators, which are less expensive than the Guardian series but only support 7kW home generators. The QuietSource series are Generac's "premeire" generator, offering power ranging from 22kW to 48kW. Finally, the EcoGen series 6kW generator is Generac's eco-friendly and energy efficient generator.

I hope you'll find these resources useful as best of luck in your search for a generator!