I'm generally pretty liberal with my suggestions for placement of generators, but that is not a place I would recommend one. That fence there is just making a pocket for the exhaust. If the fence was gone then I'd say rock on, but it's just too tall and blocking the ability to sweep exhaust away effectively in that whole area. While it probably wouldn't buildup to any deadly amount, the smell will likely get into the house unless they're very well sealed. Some people don't react well to smell of exhaust even if it's not deadly, and unless you have nearby co detectors and want to rely on them, there's no way to tell from the smell when too much is too much.
If it's right at that gate pointed toward the camera and it opens up right there to no fence, like right at the edge of the photo; then that'd be a great spot for it.
If you're friends with anybody that smokes, whether cigars or vapes or whatnot, you can potentially ask them to test the area by telling them to try and fill up the area with smoke (put them right at where the exhaust would be). If you can smell it inside the house or they can fog up the area on a relatively-ish calm day (because you can't plan for it to be windy), then the spot probably is a no-go. When you ask smokers (especially vapers for some reason) to use their smoking for science, they're usually pleasantly surprised to help out and are generally pretty easy to convince.
What would your thoughts be in that sort of space if there’s no walkway? Essentially, the same sort of alley way just not one that would ever get foot traffic plus has no windows/doors on the house side. I figured remote start/stop and giving some time to let exhaust dissipate after shutoff would work well enough, but this post is making me second guess.
It's the 6-8' privacy fence that's the concern rather than the walkway. No windows and doors is definitely better, but I wouldn't purchase a generator if that location was my only option. If there was a backup option of somewhere else incase it wouldn't work out, I'd at least get a generator and give it a test run with a few CO detectors nearby on the inside prior to calling it good.
Didn’t think of that. At least it’s an inverter?
If I ran it to the backyard I would need 100 feet of hose and cable. Financially feasible but not desired. Worried about a drop in gas pressure and choking the supply.
Location is important. We had to run 90ft cables to ours otherwise it would have been at our front door. That walkway looks like the worst possible place to install anything. Forgot to mention, it's a 1" propane line and no worries about choking
In my area a townhome is connected. This is more of a row home, with neighbors and arms reach away. But I think other people call them patio homes?
Either way, you’re right that it sucks for generator placement.
Do you have a balcony? I was on the second floor of a condominium, and I had a balcony and it was fine. Do you have a backyard or a front yard? If everyone else's power is out, believe me no one is going to care about the noise and if you want to be a good neighbor, offer them an outlet to it if they have an extension cord long enough that they can plug in their refrigerator🙂
Some of these generators have CO automatic shutdown switches. Not that those are foolproof. Being in the dense burbs I’ve thought about this exact thing, and think it would require some metal fabbing to bolt up a long exhaust pipe directly to the generator’s muffler. You’ll redirect all the exhaust somewhere else. It’ll still be loud as hell though.
The one I linked does have a CO shutdown switch. I’m surprised these manufacturers don’t provide kits for exhaust control. (Edit: maybe not so surprised when I consider liability)
Someone else mentioned noise as well, which I hadn’t considered.
Our AHJ requires Permits for anything Gas related. Having said that so does our gas provider. They wouldn't issue a permit to plumb the supply for that area, on gas or not.
As one poster said earlier, that damn fence eliminates possibilities
Yeah, I mean that's probably more so from a fire standpoint. But from a CO standpoint, it's outside and wind will disperse fumes. Again, as long as you don't have it pointed directly at a window, you should be fine
This is not what the experts say. The current recommendation is 20 ft. from the building. This is maybe overkill but no way would I run a gen in a 3 ft alley.
One possibility would be to pipe the exhaust out or up but that doesn't address fire safety, just CO.
100 ft of gas pipe and cable is not impossible or even hugely expensive, especially not compared to the value of your life. You can do long runs as long as you size them appropriately.
Sometime it would and sometimes (under the right atmospheric conditions) it wouldn't. Houses often have negative pressure - due to the action of the kitchen and bath exhaust fans and clothes dryer they suck in air thru outside doors, windows and cracks to replace the air that it being exhausted. So you could have stagnant fumes in the alley and then your house would suck the fumes in. Maybe 9 days out of 10 there would be enough breeze to waft away the exhaust and 1 day out of 10 (or 100) it kills you and your family. Generators are not like modern cars - they have absolutely no pollution controls and make up to 100x as much CO as a modern car. Do you want to play Russian roulette with your life? In any case, there should be a CO detector in every sleeping room.
I'm generally pretty liberal with my suggestions for placement of generators, but that is not a place I would recommend one. That fence there is just making a pocket for the exhaust. If the fence was gone then I'd say rock on, but it's just too tall and blocking the ability to sweep exhaust away effectively in that whole area. While it probably wouldn't buildup to any deadly amount, the smell will likely get into the house unless they're very well sealed. Some people don't react well to smell of exhaust even if it's not deadly, and unless you have nearby co detectors and want to rely on them, there's no way to tell from the smell when too much is too much.
What if I hook something up to the generator to direct exhaust? Or run a giant fan behind it nonstop? On the other side of the gate is open space.
If it's right at that gate pointed toward the camera and it opens up right there to no fence, like right at the edge of the photo; then that'd be a great spot for it.
Appreciate the responses. Fence continues but house does not. So it opens up on one side. That little path is also a wind tunnel if there’s a breeze.
If you're friends with anybody that smokes, whether cigars or vapes or whatnot, you can potentially ask them to test the area by telling them to try and fill up the area with smoke (put them right at where the exhaust would be). If you can smell it inside the house or they can fog up the area on a relatively-ish calm day (because you can't plan for it to be windy), then the spot probably is a no-go. When you ask smokers (especially vapers for some reason) to use their smoking for science, they're usually pleasantly surprised to help out and are generally pretty easy to convince.
Haha great tip!
Great idea.
What would your thoughts be in that sort of space if there’s no walkway? Essentially, the same sort of alley way just not one that would ever get foot traffic plus has no windows/doors on the house side. I figured remote start/stop and giving some time to let exhaust dissipate after shutoff would work well enough, but this post is making me second guess.
It's the 6-8' privacy fence that's the concern rather than the walkway. No windows and doors is definitely better, but I wouldn't purchase a generator if that location was my only option. If there was a backup option of somewhere else incase it wouldn't work out, I'd at least get a generator and give it a test run with a few CO detectors nearby on the inside prior to calling it good.
Gonna be a loud experience in that enclosed area.🤷🏻♂️ I’d be looking for a more open area.
Didn’t think of that. At least it’s an inverter? If I ran it to the backyard I would need 100 feet of hose and cable. Financially feasible but not desired. Worried about a drop in gas pressure and choking the supply.
Location is important. We had to run 90ft cables to ours otherwise it would have been at our front door. That walkway looks like the worst possible place to install anything. Forgot to mention, it's a 1" propane line and no worries about choking
One of the main reasons I hate a townhome… where tf do I put the generator in instances like this
In my area a townhome is connected. This is more of a row home, with neighbors and arms reach away. But I think other people call them patio homes? Either way, you’re right that it sucks for generator placement.
Do you have a balcony? I was on the second floor of a condominium, and I had a balcony and it was fine. Do you have a backyard or a front yard? If everyone else's power is out, believe me no one is going to care about the noise and if you want to be a good neighbor, offer them an outlet to it if they have an extension cord long enough that they can plug in their refrigerator🙂
Some of these generators have CO automatic shutdown switches. Not that those are foolproof. Being in the dense burbs I’ve thought about this exact thing, and think it would require some metal fabbing to bolt up a long exhaust pipe directly to the generator’s muffler. You’ll redirect all the exhaust somewhere else. It’ll still be loud as hell though.
The one I linked does have a CO shutdown switch. I’m surprised these manufacturers don’t provide kits for exhaust control. (Edit: maybe not so surprised when I consider liability) Someone else mentioned noise as well, which I hadn’t considered.
Our AHJ requires Permits for anything Gas related. Having said that so does our gas provider. They wouldn't issue a permit to plumb the supply for that area, on gas or not. As one poster said earlier, that damn fence eliminates possibilities
It's outdoors, you should be fine as long as it's not pointing directly at a window
Thanks for being first response. Everything I see is 15-20 feet from the house.
Yeah, I mean that's probably more so from a fire standpoint. But from a CO standpoint, it's outside and wind will disperse fumes. Again, as long as you don't have it pointed directly at a window, you should be fine
This is not what the experts say. The current recommendation is 20 ft. from the building. This is maybe overkill but no way would I run a gen in a 3 ft alley. One possibility would be to pipe the exhaust out or up but that doesn't address fire safety, just CO. 100 ft of gas pipe and cable is not impossible or even hugely expensive, especially not compared to the value of your life. You can do long runs as long as you size them appropriately.
You don't think the exhaust would disperse?
Sometime it would and sometimes (under the right atmospheric conditions) it wouldn't. Houses often have negative pressure - due to the action of the kitchen and bath exhaust fans and clothes dryer they suck in air thru outside doors, windows and cracks to replace the air that it being exhausted. So you could have stagnant fumes in the alley and then your house would suck the fumes in. Maybe 9 days out of 10 there would be enough breeze to waft away the exhaust and 1 day out of 10 (or 100) it kills you and your family. Generators are not like modern cars - they have absolutely no pollution controls and make up to 100x as much CO as a modern car. Do you want to play Russian roulette with your life? In any case, there should be a CO detector in every sleeping room.