Many residents are buying generators to get through PG outages. Here's what you need to know
Nov. 01-- Nov. 1--In some parts of the Bay Area, just about every house on the block has fired one up recently: a thrumming portable generator with enough wattage to keep a refrigerator running, charge a few phones and sustain an internet router.
It's the latest makeshift response to climate-driven disaster, as Pacific Gas Electric Co. cuts off power to millions of Northern California residents in hopes of keeping wildfires in check. People in blackout zones rushed to buy the devices, swarming hardware stores and pulling every last machine off shelves.
"You're not going to find any generators in the greater Bay Area," Thomas Apley, manager of Cole Hardware in San Francisco's Cole Valley neighborhood, said during the latest outages. He said he called several suppliers, "and the closest (generator) I found was in Visalia."
The heightened demand for home generators is another sign of California's times: wildfires that rage every autumn, sprawling blackouts by PG, sporadic tremors with threats of a major earthquake looming. But few consumers know how to buy or use this equipment. Undoubtedly, you have questions.
We spoke with several generator experts about what type of machine to purchase and how to operate it. Here's what you need to know:
How much does a generator cost?
That depends on how much juice you need. If you're trying to power a refrigerator, you'll want to look at the manufacturer's specifications, said Glen Hildebrand, tool department manager at Cole Hardware in San Francisco. The average single-door fridge with a freezer on top requires 400 watts. A giant sub-zero cooling system with wine storage sucks up a lot more power.
Small portable generators start at 1,000 watts, which is enough to run a refrigerator, charge a phone and possibly keep a television going. Most of these cost between $600 and $1,000 and are about the size of an ice chest. They're the type of generator one would see at a campground or tailgate party, or powering booths at a farmers' market.
Hildebrand recommends the Generac GP2200i for $679 that supplies 1,700 watts. Khoa Pham, who owns Single Cylinder Repair in San Carlos, prefers the Honda Eu1000i, which provides 1,000 watts for about $900 and purrs softly.
For the long term, people in wildfire zones might consider buying a 5,000- or 7,000-watt generator and hiring an electrician to install a transfer switch, which connects the generator cord to the circuit box of the house. Though costly and elaborate, such systems could keep a three-bedroom house running during a blackout, powering overhead lights, air conditioning and any other hard-wired devices.
Where do I get one?
Normally, generators are sold at hardware, gardening, tractor supply and outdoor supply stores, as well as online. But the latest wave of fires and blackouts prompted a run on the products in the Bay Area, so you might have to call around.
How do I run a generator?
Be sure to check what fuel a generator needs before buying. Most will take regular gasoline, though Hildebrand favors a product called TruFuel, which doesn't have any ethanol or other additives that eat away a carburetor over time. Pure fuel can last for a year, whereas regular gas should be changed every three months because it loses combustibility.
Don't buy the standard orange 16-gauge extension cord you'd use for holiday lights, said John Galeotafiore, associate director of product testing at Consumer Reports. If your generator pumps 3,000 watts, you'll need a 12-gauge cord -- the lower the gauge, the more power it can carry.
You can plug a power strip into the generator and use it to run various devices, but be careful not to overload it, Hildebrand said. Modern power strips have internal circuit breakers that shut off the electricity when they get overwhelmed, but older or cheaper strips might burn out and start a fire if, say, the hair dryer, the microwave, and the toaster oven are all running at the same time.
"Those are things you should only plug into a wall," Hildebrand said.
A bigger concern is carbon monoxide poisoning. Generators should always be placed outside with a thick extension cord, away from any doors or windows in a home.
"A generator is basically a tiny car engine in a frame," Hildebrand said. "You wouldn't park your car at the front door, keep the front door open and leave the car running."
Aren't generators noisy?
Generally, the larger you go, the louder the machine, Galeotafiore said, which is something to keep in mind for those seeking giant home systems. Some brands, such as Honda, sell "quiet" models that are supposed to buzz as softly as a muffled conversation. Check with the retailer and read the product reviews online, which sometimes include decibel ratings. Anything below 60 decibels is hushed; 60 to 100 decibels is loud; anything above that is excruciating.
Don't generators cause pollution?
"They're very dirty -- dirtier than an automobile," Galeotafiore said.
If you're bracing for years of blackouts, you might consider a home standby unit that runs on natural gas or propane, Galeotafiore said. That's a bigger investment, usually requiring a city permit, as well as an electrician and a plumber to install the equipment.
Some might also be tempted to go off the grid, installing solar panels and batteries, like a Tesla Powerwall, which costs up to $20,000. That's the cleanest way to produce power, yet it's also "massively expensive and massively inconvenient," said Severin Borenstein, director of the Energy Institute at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, because it requires you to ration your electricity use.
He proposed another alternative: PG should get the grid up to proper safety standards so we don't have to do this every year.
Do I have other options?
You checked all the brick-and-mortar stores and turned up nothing. Try an inverter, suggests Borenstein. He used one to power a freezer, a refrigerator, an air filter and several electronic devices during the most recent blackout.
An inverter hooks up to a car battery, so the car becomes the generator while the inverter converts the engine's 12-volt electricity into 110-volt electricity. Borenstein connected the machine to his 1998 Honda Odyssey, which he left running in the driveway for eight hours. It consumed about a gallon of gas and produced 1,000 watts of power -- not enough to run a microwave or a big space heater, but plenty to charge phones, electrify LED lights and keep the freezer going.
"This is not environmentally friendly," Borenstein said.
But it's a good solution for someone seeking an alternate power source three or four days out of the year. And at $189, it's cheaper than a generator.
Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan
