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You are here: Home / Home Top List / Portable Generator Safety Tips ~ Carbon Monoxide, Transfer Switch, Backfeed, Noise

Portable Generator Safety Tips ~ Carbon Monoxide, Transfer Switch, Backfeed, Noise

November 6, 2019 by Michelle

ARTICLE / VIDEO. Portable or permanently installed standby generators can come in handy during long-term power outages. However, if you do not know how to use them properly, they can be dangerous. Contact a qualified vendor or electrician to help you determine what generator is best suited to your needs. Before using, read and follow manufacturer’s instructions.


Recommend Goal Zero Yeti 400 Power Station + Boulder 50 Solar Kit

NOTE Battery powered generators are another, safer, option to gas generators, albeit an expensive one. Unlike a gas generator, the Goal Zero Yeti 1400 can be operated indoors and is silent. At 1,500 running and 3,000 surge power, the Goal Zero isn’t as powerful as the gas models, but it has more than enough juice to power a few lights, a small fridge, and your personal electronics. Add the solar panel, and you’ve got unlimited fuel as long as the sun is out.


Tips to safely use a portable generator.   Central Insurance


If you want to plug your generator into your house, it must have a transfer switch. The transfer switch prevents energy from leaving your generator and going back onto the utility electrical equipment, when it could be dangerous to a lineman or others near downed power lines, a process known as “back feed.” A qualified electrician should install your generator and transfer switch.

Safe Electricity has the following tips to use portable generators safely:

  • Operate it outdoors, 20 feet from house, in an area with plenty of ventilation. Never run a generator in a home or garage. Generators give off deadly carbon monoxide. Direct exhaust away from house and neighbor’s house.
  • Do not plug a generator into the wall to avoid back feed. Use heavy-duty extension cords to connect appliances to the outlets on the generator.
  • Turn the generator on before plugging appliances to it. Once the generator is running, turn your appliances and lights on one at a time to avoid overloading the unit. Remember, generators are for temporary usage; prioritize your needs.
  • Generators pose electrical risks, especially when operated in wet conditions. Use a generator only when necessary when the weather creates wet or moist conditions. Protect the generator by operating it under an open, canopy-like structure on a dry surface where water cannot form puddles or drain under it. Always ensure your hands are dry before touching the generator.
  • Be sure the generator is turned off and cool before fueling it.
  • Keep children and pets away from portable generators. Many generator components are hot enough to burn you during operation.

Safe Electricity suggests these safety guidelines and basic operating instructions be posted in the home and with the generator.


 

Consider the fumes and the noise your generator is causing.

Be considerate of your neighbors.

 


A Portable Generator Needs a Transfer Switch to Safely Power Your Whole House

But there’s an alternative that could save you hundreds of dollars

By Paul Hope / Consumer Reports; Last updated: September 15, 2019right:
Portable generators rated for 5,000 watts and above need a transfer switch.

An Alternative: The Interlock Device.

Most manufacturers of service panels and many third-party manufacturers make a small connector called an interlock device. Each is intended for a specific panel model, but all work the same way: They allow you to attach a portable generator to the service panel—without a transfer switch—and they eliminate the hazards of a direct connection.

An interlock kit, $50 to $150, should also be installed by an electrician, who can tell you whether it meets local building codes and whether it will work with your electrical system.

This option is more manual than using a transfer switch, but that’s the price you pay to save hundreds on buying and installing a transfer switch.

From 2005 to 2017 more than 900 people died of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning while using portable generators, according to data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
How to Run a Generator Safely

 


Home Generator 101: How to Use a Generator Safely

When the lights go out, it’s good to have a backup plan—but you need to know how to use that backup plan safely.   ~ Popular Mechanics


Portable Generator - Backfeed Safety

Transfer switches isolate utility power and generator power to prevent backfeeding, which can be deadly.

Backfeed can follow wires and harm those nearby, including utility workers making repairs.

Transfer switches also protect the home from electrical fires caused by short circuits and improper connections.

Transfer switches should only be installed by a qualified electrician.

Related

Filed Under: Coastside Disaster Preparedness, Half Moon Bay City Council, Home Top List, Podcasts, Public Agencies Tagged With: 2019, Cal Fire, City Council, Coastside, death, disaster, earthquake, Education, emergency, emergency prep, fire, Half Moon Bay, HMB, listen, planning, san mateo county, video

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Coastside CERT

We are an emergency preparedness volunteer organization focused on creating a ready and resilient community along the San Francisco Bay Area coast from the southern side of the Tom Lantos Tunnel (Devil’s Slide) to Tunitas Creek Road.

Emergency Prep Resources

The average Coastsider may not be aware of the many emergency preparation resources available to us! Here’s a list of many of those resources.

KHMB LOGO AM-FMKHMB AM 1710 and FM 100.9

KHMB Radio AM 1710 and FM 100.9 is our local Emergency Radio Station. You would still want to tune in to KCBS for Bay Area wide emergency news.  Make sure you have a radio!
Go to: KHMB or KHMBRadio.com to tune in.

CEC logo-jCEC – Coastside Emergency Corp

From Waddell Creek to Devil’s Slide and up to Skyline are 4 Branches of emergency prepared coastside citizens that are forming. They include many emergency disciplines.
Go to: CEC Portal

CERTCERT Teams – Community Emergency Response Team

Trainings are offered a couple of times per year up and down the coast CERT volunteers are forming Neighborhood Watches to help their neighbors get prepared.
Go to: FEMA page on CERT

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CEAP

Charise McHugh of the Half Moon bay Chamber of Commerce has worked for several years to organize businesses on the coastside in an emergency via the Coastside Emergency Action Plan). If you are a business and have not already participated, please contact the Chamber. In an emergency we need to know where our resources are and how to deploy materiel, and how to get refunded by FEMA.
Go to: HMB Chamber Page on CEAP

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SMC Alert

It is a free alert system that will come to your cell phone, your tablet or computer, or all three. There is no charge, although your carrier may charge for texts. This is the best way to stay on top of traffic accidents.
Go to: SMCAlert.info to sign up

mrcMRC – Medical Reserve Corps

Doctors and nurses work together to become the backbone of an emergency medical situation. Coastside Emergency Experts will tell you that the Coastside will be on its own in a major earthquake disaster for 5-7 days. And we no longer have a Medical Reserve Corps on the Coastside! Contact mdragony@coastsidebuzz.com if you are interested in creating a new chapter.

hamHAM Radio

ARES—Amateur Radio Emergency Service—of Half Moon Bay
Go to: their website

red crossRed Cross

We have several Red Cross trailers on the Coast. Take a Red Cross class so you can help in one the shelters during a disaster.
Go to: Sign up for a class or Contact Local Red Cross volunteer Jim Holley

nextdoorNextDoor

Have you signed up with Next Door? Next Door is a great social media tool that will help you stay up to date with what is going on in your neighborhood and other neighborhoods on the Coast.
Go to: NextDoor.com to sign up.


michelleMichelle Dragony, founder of CoastsideBUZZ.com, is also a civilian CERT trainer working with Dave Cosgrave, Cal Fire Battalion Chief of Half Moon Bay, and Ari Delay, Cal Fire Battalion Chief of La Honda. Email here at mdragony@coastsidebuzz.com if you have any questions.

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