Generator emergency safety

The numbers are not abstract. CPSC's rulemaking record documents at least 1,332 CO deaths involving portable generators between 2004 and 2021, averaging about 74 a year, plus thousands of non-fatal poisonings annually. For the three most recent years with complete data at the time (2017–2019), the average was 85 deaths a year. CPSC also states that portable generator CO emission rates are on the order of hundreds of times those of a gasoline car.

A garage is not outdoors. This is the belief that kills people. CPSC's testing found that generators built to the current voluntary standards, run in an attached garage with the bay door fully open, produced carbon monoxide levels in the home's living space high enough to injure the occupants — in some cases without even tripping the generator's own CO shutoff. Open doors and windows do not make an enclosed space safe. Neither does a shed, a carport, a porch, or a crawlspace.

Ready.gov's guidance is specific: generators and their fuel belong outdoors, at least 20 feet from windows, doors and attached garages. Keep the unit dry and out of rain or standing water — touching a wet generator can shock you. Use heavy-duty extension cords to reach appliances. Let the engine cool before refueling, because spilled gasoline on hot engine parts ignites.

The other way generators kill is backfeeding. Plugging a generator into a household outlet to energize your house sends power backward through your service drop and out onto utility lines that crews believe are dead. It can kill a lineworker and it can kill you when utility power returns. The only safe way to power house circuits is through a properly installed transfer switch.

How to choose

20 feet, minimum, and pointed away

Ready.gov calls for at least 20 feet from windows, doors and attached garages. Aim the exhaust away from the house, and check where a neighbor's windows are too.

Buy the CO alarms before you buy the generator

Ready.gov recommends working carbon monoxide detectors with battery backup on every level of the home. CO is colorless and odorless — you will not smell it coming.

A CO shutoff feature is not a permission slip

CPSC testing found compliant units in an open garage still poisoned the living space. Treat the shutoff as a last-resort backstop, not a reason to move the generator closer.

Never plug a generator into a wall or dryer outlet

That's backfeeding. Use the generator's own outlets with heavy-duty cords, or a properly installed transfer switch. There is no clever workaround.

Get out first, ask questions later

Headache, dizziness, nausea or confusion in more than one person during generator use means everyone leaves the building immediately and calls 911 from outside.