This is mostly about what they don’t tell you when you purchase a whole home generator and the potential safety problems that you may encounter.
My generator was installed 7/9/2014 and was fully permitted by the city. It was installed about 6’ form the back of the house. Today, I think they must be installed much further away from the house.
Our first problem occurred about 3 years ago, during a power outage, when a rubber line inside the generator enclosure, developed a kink while running and caused the engine to surge. My wife woke me up and s aid she heard an alarm. We had one dual purpose Smoke/CO alarm in our laundry room.it was announcing, “High Carbon Monoxide. Clear the area.” We called 911 and the Fire Dept. came and took readings inside the house, which were at a very high level. They shut down the generator and advised us to get it serviced.
Our generator was under warranty and the hose was replaced with a new type hose, designed to take care of the problem.
We now have duel purpose alarms outside of each bedroom and inside of our bedroom. We have always changed batteries annually, in October, my birth month.
We purchased a portable CO monitor that we turn on each time the generator runs.
During the extended power outage during hurricane Ida, we got up to 8ppm CO in the house after running for over 100 hours. We found out that we should have only run for 12 hours and then shutdown to check the oil, then again at 48 hours to check the oil again. We are then advised to shutdown at 200 hours and check oil.
You will have to add oil at some of these intervals. Only use Full Synthetic, 5W-30, or 10W-30 oil. Do not overfill. You can go on line, to You Tube, and watch several oil changing and maintenance videos.
Read the manual after your whole home generator is installed. Purchase the correct oil for your area of the country. Purchase a portable Carbon Monoxide monitor. Before installation, make sure tge placement is far away from the eves of your hone. Consider the noise level, which is not bad to me, but some people may be annoyed by the noise. You may want to look up the ppm limits for Carbon Monoxide.
One last thing about my whole home generator, I did not have to wait in line for gas, it was nice and cool while watching TV and cooking. Over the past 7 years, we feel it was well worth the investment. Just don’t firget generator safety, portable generator or whole home generator.
September 18, 2021