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Generator and carbon monoxide safety
CDC and Ready.gov limits for portable generators — outdoors, 20 feet from openings, never as indoor heat — without a model catalog or a medical protocol.
Published . Updated .
A portable generator can make carbon monoxide, which the CDC describes as an odorless, colorless gas that can cause sudden illness and death. People who are sleeping or who have been drinking alcohol can die from carbon monoxide poisoning before they ever have symptoms, the CDC says. This page repeats the placement rules from the CDC and Ready.gov. It does not review generator models. The generators hub is empty until specs can be cited the same way as the battery stations. It is not a shopping list.
Where a generator may run
The CDC says never to use a generator, pressure washer, or any gasoline-powered engine inside a home, basement, or garage, or less than 20 feet from any window, door, or vent. Use an extension cord longer than 20 feet so the machine can sit at that distance. Never run one in a basement, garage, or other enclosed structure even if the doors or windows are open, unless the equipment is professionally installed and vented. Keep vents and flues clear of debris. Flying debris in a wind storm can block them.
Ready.gov’s power-outage and winter-weather pages use the same outdoor rule: generators and fuel outdoors, at least 20 feet from windows, doors, and attached garages. An apartment balcony that is beside a window, door, or vent does not meet that distance. Do not put the machine in a hallway “just for a minute.”
The CDC also says never to use a charcoal grill, hibachi, lantern, or portable camping stove inside a home, tent, or camper, and never to leave a vehicle running in a garage or other partly closed space. Ready.gov says not to heat a home with a gas stove or oven. That can poison people and can also start a fire, burn someone, or damage the appliance.
Detectors and wet machines
Install carbon monoxide alarms with battery backup, or alarms that plug in and have a battery backup, on every level, in a central spot. Ready.gov and the CDC both say this. Test them. A detector that is dead is not a detector.
Keep the generator dry. Ready.gov says touching a wet generator, or devices connected to one, can cause electrical shock. Protect it from rain without wrapping it in a way that pulls the exhaust toward a window. Connect appliances with heavy-duty extension cords, the kind the generator maker specifies, not a light household cord. Let the machine cool before you add fuel. Ready.gov says fuel spilled on hot engine parts can ignite. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for that model. This site has not operated one.
Do not plug a generator into a household wall outlet to “backfeed” the panel. That is not in the short Ready.gov list as a how-to, and this site will not supply the steps. A transfer switch or interlock, if you need house circuits powered, is work for a licensed electrician. The empty home-battery hub says the same thing about installed batteries: no wiring instructions here.
If someone may be poisoned
The CDC lists the most common symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning as headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Exposure can cause loss of consciousness and death. If someone has those symptoms and a generator, grill, or vehicle may be the source, the CDC says to call 911 or the Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222, or a healthcare professional, right away. Get the person into fresh air if you can do that without staying in the gas yourself. This page stops there. It is not a treatment guide, and it does not tell you to decide the diagnosis yourself.
BlackoutSmart does not sell detectors or generators and has no affiliate link for either. Buttons on gear pages in the battery catalog are placeholders, and they are unrelated to this safety note.
Battery stations are not a loophole
A battery station does not exhaust carbon monoxide in normal use. That does not make it a whole-home furnace, and it does not make a fuel generator safe indoors. If you are comparing a station to a generator, compare cited watts and the placement rules, not a crossed-out price. Price tracking on this site is not connected. The methodology explains why a displayed “regular price” is not treated as proof of a discount.
Sources
- CDC, What to do to protect yourself during a power outage, retrieved 7 November 2026.
- CDC, Generator safety fact sheet, retrieved 7 November 2026. The fact sheet states that portable generators produce carbon monoxide and that poisoning can be prevented.
- Ready.gov, Power outages, retrieved 7 November 2026.
- Ready.gov, Winter weather, generator section, retrieved 7 November 2026.
- FEMA’s alerting role is described on Ready.gov’s alerts page and in Ready.gov’s alerts-and-warnings fact sheet. NOAA Weather Radio is part of that system. A radio does not replace the generator placement rules.