Looming PG&E power shut-offs make generators a hot item

Take a left upon entering the Home Depot on Bicentennial Way in Santa Rosa, go past the paint desk and the skeleton pirate display. Hang a right at the wood-fired grills and proceed to Aisle 3, home of the portable generators.

Note that they are behind bars.

About three months ago, management installed security barriers to better protect the generators, so frequently were they being shoplifted.

“People would literally put them on a cart and walk out,” said Carlos Quezada, an assistant manager at the store.

The spike in thefts coincided with Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s decision in early June to shut off electricity to about 22,000 Northern Californians to reduce the risk of wildfires. With fire season underway and more widespread power shut-offs all but guaranteed, demand for “gennies,” as electricians refer to these suddenly popular appliances, has likewise surged.

So has the importance of educating consumers on how powerful a generator they'll need, and how to operate the machines safely. Between 2005 and 2017, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 900 people died of carbon monoxide poisoning nationwide while using portable generators. In the past five years, the machines have been blamed for the deaths of five men who were using them at cannabis farms in Mendocino County.

Those sobering stats haven't dampened sales one bit. “This year we're like 130% ahead of where we were last year,” said Quezada, referring to his Home Depot store's generator sales.

At the Costco on Santa Rosa Avenue, sales of generators are up 90% in the past four weeks, assistant warehouse manager Caroline Wyatt said.

“We're selling more than I've ever seen, and I've been here 14 years,” said Ben Pereira, a manager at Harbour Freight Tools in Santa Rosa.

Myriad generator choices

Hot, dry and windy conditions are the criteria PG&E will consider in deciding to preemptively shut off electricity in power lines running through high-risk wildfire areas. In October 2018, the utility cut power to 17,000 customers in Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties, angering many, but also providing a glimpse of more frequent outages to come to help curtail fires.

“People are telling us to be prepared” for a shut-off, said Larkfield resident David Hansen, while inspecting a row of Predator generators at Harbour Freight, “and we're not.”

While he was leaning toward the purchase of a 4,000-watt Predator, “I don't know much about them,” he said.

To fill those knowledge gaps, Friedman's Home Improvement has arranged for its employees to meet with generator suppliers. On a recent Saturday, the Friedman's in Ukiah also brought in an expert who spent five hours at a desk in Aisle 15 educating customers on how to connect a generator in their home.

The options can be overwhelming. Generators range in price from a few hundred bucks to more than $10,000 for a home standby system that clicks on automatically when the power goes out in your house.

While surveying the models on display at the Home Depot, Oakmont resident Don Olson sang the praises of the portable solar generators he'd been researching.

They run off a lithium hydride battery, and are surprisingly powerful, he said. “They'll run your refrigerator, your freezer. And you don't have to screw around with fueling it” with gasoline, Olson said.

Customers otherwise can choose between traditional generators and lighter, quieter - and pricier - “inverter” models that transform direct current into alternating current. While traditional generators run at a constant 3,600 revolutions per minute, the inverters run at variable speeds. This makes them much less noisy than their cacophonous cousins and better suited for powering sensitive electronic equipment like computers.

Friedman's carries seven generators from Honda, ranging from 1,000 to 7,000 watts. To the uninitiated, it can be an intimidating purchase, said Fred Relyea, electrical buyer for the Sonoma County hardware chain. “People come in asking, ‘How do I do this? What do I need? Do I want to power one item, or my entire home?'?”

The easiest solution, for those seeking only to survive a 24- or 48-hour blackout, is to get a modest-sized portable model, and run one extension cord directly from that machine to the refrigerator.

Power devices pose risks

To power additional appliances or devices - television, air conditioning, a dialysis machine, an electric pump for the well that supplies a household's water - it's a good idea to buy a more robust generator, and connect it directly to the electrical panel of your home. That's when it's time to call an electrician.

Anything that requires opening that panel to connect a generator, said Dan Graham, a Friedman's buyer, “should be done by a trained professional.”

“You can't be creative with electricity,” said Liesl Ramsay, CEO of Santa Rosa's Leete Generators, which specializes in automatic standby systems for “executive estates” and businesses.

“This is not something you backfeed into your dryer outlet,” she said, reminding amateurs that it's foolish and dangerous to try hooking their generator into their home's electrical system. “If there's a lineman on the line, you could kill him.”

“Backfeeding” a building by plugging a generator directly into an outlet can send electricity into power lines that utility workers assume are dead, a practice that has led to many fatalities.

“It's hard for people to believe that something they bought at Costco can kill them,” said Chris Godley, Sonoma County's director of emergency management. “But generators can be dangerous in several ways.”

In 2015, a father and his seven children were found dead inside a Maryland home, poisoned by carbon monoxide from a generator they were using because the family had fallen behind on monthly electric bills.

The carbon monoxide produced by gas-powered generators is odorless. Safety experts stress that generators should be placed outdoors - in a shelter, if operating in wet weather - away from windows and vents.

Because they run hot, generators also can pose a fire hazard. Before refilling the gas tank on a generator, give the engine ample time to cool, Godley said. “The movie can wait. And you're not going to lose all the food in your fridge in an hour,” he said.

Which generator is best?

Back at Harbour Freight, Hansen and his wife, who chose not to give her name, had a mild disagreement over how powerful a generator they needed.

“I worry about the freezer,” he said.

“We have a cooler,” she reminded him. When the power goes out, she said, “we'll barbecue.”

He reminded her that his lawnmower and edger run on electricity. “Plus we have a tent trailer, which we could power” with a generator, he said.

“All the years we've had that trailer, we've never hooked it up,” she countered.

What if their generator lacked the wattage to power their TV?

“If he misses some of his sports shows,” she said, “I'm OK with that.”

You can reach Staff Writer Austin Murphy at 707-521-5214 or austin.murphy@pressdemocrat.com.