Generator placement so you do not kill someone with CO

Carbon monoxide has no smell you can count on. A generator in a garage, a breezeway, or under a window will put your family on the floor. That is not drama. That is how these deaths happen in Houston after the lights go out.

You want the fridge and a fan. You do not want a funeral.

If you cannot place it far from the house, you do not run it. Borrow ice. Use a cooler. Live.

Do this now

1. Set the generator outdoors, on dry ground, well away from windows, doors, and vents. Not in the garage. Not in the house.
2. Point exhaust away from the building and the neighbor’s windows.
3. Use a battery CO alarm inside if you have one. If anyone gets a headache or dizzy, shut it off and get out. 911 if they are not right.
4. Do not backfeed a dryer outlet. Use cords or a proper transfer switch installed by someone licensed.

Placement that is actually outside

Far from openings. Open air on all sides. A covered patio that traps exhaust is not open air. A carport that shares air with the house is not open air. After a flood, the yard may still be wet. Set it on something dry and stable so it does not sit in a puddle and so you do not wade to refuel. Let it cool before you add gas. Refuel spills on a hot muffler are how you add a fire to a flood.

CO is the quiet one

Houstonians often report they “only ran it a minute” in the garage to keep the fridge. That minute is enough in a tight space. Kids sleeping in a back bedroom with a window near the unit are the usual victims in these write-ups. If you do not have a CO alarm, do not invent a sense of smell you do not have. Sleep somewhere the generator is not. If someone is already sick, 911, then fresh air.

Electricity, wet ground, and CenterPoint

A wet yard plus a cheap cord is a shock hazard. Keep connections off the silt. Never tie a generator into the panel unless a licensed electrician installed an interlock or transfer switch. Backfeeding can kill a lineworker. When CenterPoint restores power, shut the generator down before you switch loads. If you smell gas from a home standby unit or a wet meter, that is a different emergency. Out and 911.

Do this next

1. CenterPoint status and when food in the fridge is gone
2. Extension cords, wet floors, and electrical sense
3. Water cleanup hub

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