Getting your generator ready for hurricane season

A standby generator earns its keep about three days a year — and those are the three days you can't do anything about a problem you didn't catch in May. Here's the check we recommend before every season, and it takes about twenty minutes.

The pre-season check

1. Watch it exercise. Standby units run a self-test weekly. Don't just trust that it happens — be there for one. It should start without struggling, run smooth, and shut down clean.
2. Look at the battery date. The starting battery is the number-one reason a generator fails to start. They age out in about 3 years whether used or not. If yours is close, replace it before the season, not after the outage.
3. Clear the clearance. Trim anything growing against the enclosure and clear debris from the air intake and exhaust. The unit needs airflow to cool itself during a long run.
4. Check the fuel side. On propane: how full is the tank, and is a top-off scheduled? On natural gas: know where your shutoff is.
5. Know your maintenance date. If annual service is overdue, a long storm run on old oil is exactly the wear you paid to avoid.

When a storm gets a name

Don't test-run the generator repeatedly in the days before — that's what the weekly exercise already did. Do make sure nothing is stored against it, charge your phones, and let the transfer switch do its job. When the power drops, the unit should start on its own within seconds.

After the storm passes

If it ran for days, treat that like the equivalent of a road trip for a car: it's earned an oil-and-filter service even if the calendar says otherwise. That post-storm service is the cheapest insurance for next time.