Where can I run my generator?

If you’re using a generator to keep the lights on during a cleanup effort, “use a working, battery-operated carbon monoxide detector at the same time,” says Ken Boyce, senior director, principal engineering at UL Solutions. “A carbon monoxide alarm provides one more layer of defense against making an innocent but potentially deadly mistake.”

Don’t run a portable generator in the rain. You can buy tents for generators—that keep them shielded but still well ventilated—online and at home centers and hardware stores.

Before refueling, turn off a gas-powered generator and let it cool. Gasoline spilled on a hot engine can ignite. Allowing the engine to cool also reduces the risk of burns while refueling.

Stock up on extra gasoline and store it properly. When you think you’ll need to use the generator for an extended time, you’ll want extra fuel on hand. Just be sure to store gas only in an ANSI-approved container in a cool, well-ventilated place. Adding stabilizer to the gas in the can will help it last longer, but don’t store gasoline near any potential sources of heat or fire, or inside the house.

Buy a generator with built-in CO safety technology. Many new generators have a device that detects dangerous levels of carbon monoxide and turns off the machine when levels climb too high. CR now recommends only generators with this potentially life-saving technology. That said, a generator with a safety shutoff still isn’t safe for use close to or inside a home. That’s because the sensor is at the generator itself and can only react to what it senses nearby, explains Misha Kollontai, the engineer who leads generator testing for Consumer Reports. “If the generator is spewing exhaust to another part of your home, CO levels there may rise to dangerous levels before the sensor registers much of anything,” he warns.

OK, so last weekend a big snowstorm hit Seattle. It was supposed to be 60 mph winds combined with almost a foot of snow, followed by days of subfreezing temperatures. This is a recipe for knocking out power for days. Since we have a four-year-old and a one-year-old, and since our only “heat source” in this rented house is an open fireplace which is actually a heat sink (it sucks in more cold air than it can possibly compensate for in heat output), we were, let’s say, concerned.

So we got one of these, so we’d at least have one option for running a single-room space heater, at least until the gas ran out. I think it was the last portable generator for sale within thirty miles; everyone else had the same damn idea.

Fortunately, the big wind didn’t happen, and we didn’t lose power. And I haven’t even tried firing the bastard up yet, because of the following dilemma: everyone says never ever ever to run a gas generator in the garage. But everyone also says never ever ever to run it in wet conditions, or on non-level ground.

Well, guess what, Sherlock? The only dry, level place on our property, other than inside the house, is in the garage. Right now the fucking thing is on the back porch, with a tarp covering it. The roof overhangs the back porch, so it’s not like it’s getting drenched, but the occasional gust certainly blows rain on it periodically.

What the fuck are you supposed to do?

What I want to do is to open the fairly sizable window in the garage and put the thing right underneath it. And maybe also get some kind of heatproof exhaust extension pipe that I can run out the window. Is this any kind of reasonable option?

I ask this now because the long-range forecasts for next weekend are talking about more big winds and more possible snow… and shit, it would be nice to actually get some benefit from all this preparedness we supposedly now have!