For most people living in the Northeast, home generators get their greatest use during hurricane season when rains and heavy winds lash the area, knocking down power lines and sometimes keeping them down for days or even weeks. Winter is also a period of typically heavy use, thanks to ice storms that can snap tree limbs and lots of car accidents – both of which contribute to downed power lines. But the fact is, no matter what season it is, most homeowners will experience some loss of power during the course of a year. And many of those homeowners will be turning to home generators to take up the slack.
While home generators can serve an important role in your home, in some cases, they may also be associated with accidents and even injury if not used properly. Nearly all generator-related accidents are associated with the use of portable generators. That’s because portable generators require users to come in contact with them in order to be used: They need to be turned on and off, fuel tanks must be refilled during use, and they need to be constantly monitored while they’re running to ensure they work the way they’re intended. What’s more, portable generators require you to run electrical cords throughout your home to power all your appliances and electrical devices. These problems are all eliminated with automatic generators, which run off your home’s natural gas or LP gas supply and tie directly into your home power system, eliminating the need for extension cords.
According to the American Red Cross, the primary risks of using a home generator include carbon monoxide poisoning, electrical shock or electrocution, and fire. The organization notes that the vast majority of these accidents tend to occur when portable generators are not used properly or when they’re wheeled indoors for use, exposing the home’s occupants to toxic levels of carbon monoxide (CO). In fact, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that more than 85 percent of non-fire CO deaths are linked to portable home generator use.
If you must run a portable generator, follow these tips to reduce your risk of accidents:
- Read the operator’s manual carefully.
- Keep the generator outside while running, away from all windows including your neighbors’.
- Do not wire a portable generator to your power system; doing so can result in deadly surges.
- Turn off all appliances before starting your portable generator, then turn them back on one at a time, being careful not to overload the unit.
- Never refill your portable generator while it’s running or while it’s hot since that can cause a fire.
- Never leave a portable generator unattended while it’s running; turn it off at night and if you must leave your home.
- Use a heavy-duty extension cord designed for outdoor use.
- Use a battery-powered CO detector to alert you to dangerous increases in CO levels.
- When possible, upgrade to an automatic generator for safer, more reliable power backup.
While buying a permanent backup generator used to be extremely costly, today’s automatic generators are much more affordable thanks to new designs and features like “shedding” that let smaller generators power an entire home. To keep your automatic generator running properly, all you have to do is have it maintained regularly, just as you have your furnace or air conditioning system maintained.
At Corbin Electrical Services, we can help answer all your generator-related questions. Give us a call today at (732) 536-0444 to learn how an automatic generator could improve your life and your peace of mind.