Portable Generators and Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

[TBone]

As I sit around waiting for Sally to do her thing just south of me I've been reading up on some generator safety tips. I know when Laura came ashore in Louisiana a few weeks ago there were some fatalities from carbon dioxide due to a generator being used in a garage. Apparently the folks had a 3 car garage and had left one of the doors open for ventilation. All was well until somehow during the night the door became closed and 4 people lost their lives and another was hospitalized. Blowing wind, mechanical failure, human error? I'm not too sure anybody really knows but it was a tragedy. This seems to happen every time we have severe weather or ice storms that force people to run generators.

I've used a generator several times over the years and have always tried to keep mine about 10 feet away from doors and windows and make sure the exhaust is pointed away from the house. Never had a problem. However, everything I read says to keep portables at least 20 feet away from the house. What doesn't make sense to me is the requirements for bigger standby generators is much more lax. My son just had a 20KW Kohler standby installed and the requirements were a minimum of 5 feet from doors, windows or combustibles. The engine on his is probably 5 times the size of my little 3400 watt portable is yet mine needs to be 4 times as far away from the house?? Makes no sense to me.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the folks out west who are suffering from the fires. As bad as hurricanes are I'd rather take my chances with them any day rather than risk losing everything in a fire. Firefighters are the biggest heroes on the planet as far as I'm concerned. I just wish there was some way all this rain coming our way could be sent to them.

 

[Diggin It]

I'm thinking the bigger ones have better engines and burn more completely. The 13 and 16K units I'm looking at call for 5 feet. I'll be around that, maybe a little more, but I'll be running a fan to circulate air better also.




I ran my portable inside a garage many times but blocked the walk door open and raised the overhead door a foot or two. I also had an exhaust vent to direct the exhaust out through the wall.

 

[TBone]

I guess so and also the natural gas burns cleaner than the old petro. I've run mine during daytime hours at the garage door a few times with the door blocked up and the exhaust going out but I've never been brave enough to go to sleep with it like that.

 

[r porter]

so many just do not understand CO and how it works or how it builds up. installers are trained to notice little places where the CO can get in that might seem unusual to you. for instance a basement door that is down a flight of stairs could accumulate the CO and the blower in the furnace could suck it into the house. sound far fetched? i spent the night at a friends house years back and got a headache. in the morning i asked if they had a headache they did but they went to work and it went away. they had installed a new furnace with the exhaust pipe about 15 ft high and right above the basement stairs. 3 more feet and the pipe would have been above the eves of the house. the CO, being heavier than air was falling into the stairs and being sucked into the house. he added 5 feet to the exhaust pipe and the problem went away. it is just something a good installer would have automatically done.

same with generators. if there is a place for the CO to accumulate you must vent well. a blank wall with no windows or doors and five feet is enough. garages are particularly bad in that the wind could change directions and blow the CO back in and push it under a door into the house.

this happened to me also. i started getting headaches so i swiped the CO detector from work and took some readings in the house. they were high. memory fails me but probably in the 30 ppm range. i could not figure out why. so i called the fire dept and they laughed at me -really. ok so i called the propane company and they did not believe i had a CO detector. finally i got a driver to come out about the time i was due for a refill on the tank. guess what. they had got a brand new truck and i was the first delivery out of that load. they claimed no one else had complained about headaches but i bet there were a few. the new load in my tank caused the CO level to drop to zero in the house.

if you get a headache or feel odd get out. it is real and CO stays in your system and builds.

 

[Diggin It]

the CO, being heavier than air was falling into the stairs and being sucked into the house.

Everything I've read recently says it's nearly the same specific gravity which is why it mixes so easily. It neither rises nor falls.

 

[oosik]

TBone -thanks for your thoughts. I'd even, gladly, accept a little of that rain right now. My portable generator is stored in my work cabin. Being lazy - I just start it, in place for its monthly exercise. One time I got busy with something else and the generator ran for about three hours. I noticed a light headed feeling when I went back in the cabin.

Now I tug it out on the little cabin porch when I run it.

 

[r porter]

i must admit to feeling that it would be hard for the CO to not mix with the air after falling 15 ft. i changed my mind after that day.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I guess that's why a CO detector has no specific mounting height. Interesting information.

 

[ponytug]

I think that I n addition to the carbon monoxide risk, there is the fire risk. I think that part of the reason built in standby generators are allowed closer is that they have enclosures that are tested for for high temperatures from the exhaust. Exhaust temperatures from a generator can run 900-1300F.

I have had gasoline and diesel fuel leaks on generators. Pretty scary. (Older fuel lines/vibration/lack of factory installed fuel hose clamps) Thankfully, no fires. Now, I never run a generator close to a building, and always have a big extinguisher ten feet away. (Close, but not too close) When I am using a generator on a work site around the ranch, it is always running in the FEL bucket for fire reasons.

Stay safe.

All the best,

Peter

 

[r porter]

you want to know what is odd about the testing at the house?

i have taken hundreds upon hundreds of sample tests, sometimes hundreds in a year. and the only time i have found CO was in my own house.