• Portable generators are incredibly useful in situations where you have a power outage in your area. Generators allow you to plug in appliances like refrigerators and furnaces when power is unavailable. Although they are useful, there are some dangers associated with connecting a generator to your home.
  
  

Backfeeding

• Backfeeding is very dangerous to you and even those around your home or even utility workers working on power lines. Backfeeding occurs when you improperly connect a large appliance like a washer or dryer to a generator without the correct tools or cables. When electricity is "back fed" through a generator, it can "leak" back into the main power lines connected to a home and leak back into the "main power grid." This can cause a deadly electrical shock to a worker who may be trying to repair the power lines. To avoid backfeeding, you need to follow the directions listed with your generator about the proper materials and cables needed to ensure that backfeeding does not occur. There is a product called "Generlink" (see reference below) that can also help to reduce this problem.
  
  

Oil and Gasoline

• Oil and gasoline are two things you will need when operating your generator. Gasoline is responsible for generating power and electricity within the machine and oil is responsible for ensuring that all of the moving parts and gears run smoothly and fluidly. There are sometimes caps on your generator that can be removed to refill gasoline and oil into the system and if these caps are not properly and tightly secured while the machine is running, the heat generated can cause the gasoline or oil to bubble up and burst out of the opening. This can cause large spills of oil and gasoline and can also create a fire hazard if either liquid finds its way onto the heated engine of the generator.
  
  

Maximum Power and Proper Grounding

• Each generator comes with a "wattage" rating that tells you how many watts of power the generator can handle before it is overloaded. It is important to understand how much wattage each object in your home takes, so you understand what you can hook up to your generator safely without overloading it. Proper grounding is something that you need to keep in check when operating your generator. Each generator will come with a special "grounding wire" or "grounding bolt" that you can connect to a wire. This wire will need to be plugged into the "ground" section of a proper outlet or even "buried" in the ground. If the generator is not properly grounded when you operate it, you can risk electrocuting yourself when plugging appliances or other electrical devices into it.