Windstorm season is here, and outages on the North End can last days. A generator helps a lot. It is also the most common cause of carbon monoxide poisoning after a storm, and the most common way a lineworker gets hurt restoring your power. This is the long version of November's one-hour task — read it once, set things up right, and you won't have to think about it in the dark.
The three rules, if you read nothing else
- Outdoors only, at least 20 feet from doors, windows, and vents, with the exhaust pointed away from the house. Never in a garage, a carport, a crawlspace, or under a deck — even with the door open.
- Never backfeed. Do not run a cord from the generator into a wall outlet. It pushes power back onto the line and can kill the crew working to get your power back.
- CO alarms on every level of the house, including outside sleeping areas. Test them before the season starts.
Carbon monoxide: why 20 feet
You cannot smell or see carbon monoxide, and a portable generator puts out roughly as much as hundreds of idling cars. Exhaust pools and drifts, so a generator tucked up against the house on a still night can push CO straight into the crawlspace or an open window.
Set it on a level, dry surface well away from the house, with the exhaust aimed away. Keep it out of the rain with an open-sided generator cover or a canopy — not a tarp draped over it, which traps heat and exhaust. If anyone gets a headache, feels dizzy, or gets nauseous during an outage, get everyone outside first and call 911 second.
Connecting it: transfer switch vs. cords
There are two safe ways to use a portable generator, and one dangerous one.
- Heavy outdoor extension cords straight to appliances. Fine for a fridge, a few lamps, and device charging. Use outdoor-rated cords, 12-gauge or heavier, as short as you can manage, fully uncoiled, with no nicks in the jacket.
- A transfer switch or interlock kit, installed by a licensed electrician. This is what lets you run hardwired things — a well pump, a furnace fan, a septic pump — and it physically prevents backfeeding. Worth doing in the off-season when electricians aren't slammed. Kitsap County requires a permit for the installation.
- Backfeeding through a dryer outlet or any wall outlet. Never. It's illegal, it bypasses every breaker in the house, and it energizes the line outside.
Sizing: what do you actually need to run?
Most households get through an outage comfortably on far less than they expect. Add up the running watts of what matters to you:
- Refrigerator or chest freezer: roughly 150–200 running watts, but 3–4x that for a second or two at startup.
- Well pump (1/2 to 1 hp): roughly 1,000 running watts, with a big startup surge. This is usually the thing that sets your generator size.
- Furnace blower or heat pump air handler: roughly 600–900 watts.
- Lights, laptops, phones, router: a couple hundred watts total.
- Medical equipment: check the nameplate, and plan for it first.
A 3,500–5,000 watt unit covers most North End homes including a well pump. Don't run the generator at full load continuously, and don't daisy-chain power strips off it.
Fuel: how much, and where to keep it
A mid-size portable generator burns roughly 10–15 gallons of gasoline per day if you run it around the clock. Most people don't — running it a few hours in the morning and a few in the evening keeps the fridge cold and the house charged, and stretches the fuel a long way.
- Store fuel in approved containers, outside the house and away from any ignition source. A detached shed, not the garage next to the water heater.
- Gasoline goes stale. Use a stabilizer and rotate it through the car or mower every few months, or run non-ethanol fuel.
- Let the generator cool before refueling. Spilled gas on a hot engine is how fires start.
- Propane and dual-fuel units store indefinitely and are a good fit if you already have a propane tank. Diesel and inverter models have their own tradeoffs.
Before the storm, and after
- Start it up and run it under load for 20 minutes a few times a year. A generator that hasn't run since last winter usually won't.
- Change the oil on the schedule in the manual — generators run a lot of hours in one outage.
- Keep the manual, a spare spark plug, an oil filter, a funnel, and a flashlight with the unit.
- Secure it. Generators walk off during long outages; a cable lock to something solid is cheap insurance.
- When power returns, shut the generator down and switch back before you unplug anything.
Well owners and septic
No power means no pump. Fill water containers and the bathtub before a forecast storm, and keep two weeks of drinking water stored regardless of whether you own a generator. If you have a septic pump chamber, know how long you have before it needs power, and go easy on laundry and showers during an outage.
If you don't have a generator
You don't need one to get through an outage. Lights, batteries, a battery or crank radio, warm layers, stored water, and food that doesn't need cooking will carry most households for days. KCDEM opens severe weather shelters when conditions warrant. Never use a gas oven, stove, BBQ, or propane heater to heat the house.
Check on your block
If you have a generator and your neighbor relies on power for oxygen, a CPAP, or refrigerated medication, that's worth knowing before the lights go out. Your Block Captain keeps track of who may need a hand.
More: November: Utilities & Generators · Winter storms & power outages · Get alerts