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Generator business abuzz after storms

Demand for backup power spikes in the wake of last year's hurricanes, which left residents without power for days, even weeks. Devices must be properly installed to prevent serious accidents, the county cautions.

By JUSTIN GEORGE
Published January 10, 2005

CRYSTAL RIVER - Ron Mueller, a 63-year-old electrician with a cigarette burn on his yellow company shirt, fumbles with a fuse box. After retiring, he has found work again. Lots of it.

Hurricanes, he has learned, are good for business. While the storm surges are over, the waves of people asking Mueller's company to wire their homes with power generators keep coming. Friday, it was a gray home with a wraparound porch up on 13-foot stilts sitting on a canal not far from the Gulf of Mexico.

"I put in about 50 of them, and it still hasn't stopped," Mueller said. "Generators are back ordered anywhere from six to eight weeks - and the orders are still coming."

The waves are being felt in the Citrus County Building Division, where inspectors are busier than ever checking the wiring of the work Mueller and other electricians have done installing generators that power homes when blackouts occur.

September storms Frances and Jeanne caused enough flooding and powerless feelings to prompt the run on generators. They've also made people take precautions while installing them, heightened by an awareness that generators are dangerous - a reminder that was driven home repeatedly thanks to an unprecedented four hurricanes in the state and some high-profile fires and injuries caused by improper generator use.

On Sept. 9, for instance, an early morning fire demolished the landmark restaurant K.C. Crump in Homosassa after Frances knocked out power and the restaurant turned to a generator for power. On the same day, a family of four in Jacksonville nearly died after going to sleep with a gas-powered generator blowing carbon monoxide into their home from a closed garage.

The number of deaths attributed to carbon monoxide poisoning from generators more than doubled from 2001 to 2002 and has remained steady since, according to the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission. Thirty-six people died in 2003.

"A lot of folks are saying, "If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this right,"' county Development Services director Gary Maidhof said. "It's a smarter approach."

The number of building inspections after the storm - including the unprecedented amount of generators-to-homes wiring jobs - caused Maidhof to ask county commissioners for five new inspectors.

Homosassa-based Gaudette Electric Inc., one of the county's largest electrical firms, has sold and wired 20 home generators since September and installed 15 more.

One of those belonged to Robert Warneck, a retired telephone company supervisor, who received his 12-kilowatt Guardian model from Gaudette last week after ordering it Sept. 3. He paid for installation along with the generator, he said, for peace of mind.

"It'd be a mess if I did it. It'd look like a spider web," he said of the wires. "Plus: safety."

As he spoke, Mueller was installing a transfer switch, which allows homes to receive power directly from portable generators as opposed to coming through the main power company circuit breaker. Transfer switches prevent "backfeeding," and the possibility of currents flowing into power lines that power workers presume are dead.

"They may be wearing leather gloves and not necessarily anything electrically protective," said Progress Energy spokesman Mac Harris, whose company endorses getting electricians' help with the installation of generators.

"The poor lineman assumes the power is off," said Mueller, while hoisting Warneck's fuse box back up onto the wall, "and you just fried him."

Mueller, a retired Detroit commercial electrician who helped wire large casinos during his career and works now just to stay busy, said a properly installed and wired generator, which can cost about $4,800, is a worthy investment.

"I'm a firm believer in it," he said.

After Frances robbed him of power in his Floral City home, leaving his well water pump dead, Mueller went in to work the next day, looked at the display model on the storeroom floor and told his boss: "This one is mine."

The generator carried him through about 10 days when his area was blacked out this past storm season, and the purchase led to his current assignment, which seems to be endless.

"I kind of got stuck being the generator man," he said. "I put mine in, and the next thing you know, it's generator after generator."

After he finished the Crystal River job, he said, there were nine generators waiting to be installed back at his station.

"And six on back order," he said.

--Justin George can be reached at 352 860-7309 or jgeorge@sptimes.com

GENERATOR SAFETY

--Never use a generator indoors or in an enclosed space.

--Install and test battery-operated carbon monoxide alarms if using a gas-powered generator.

--Keep generator dry. Dry hands before touching a working generator.

--Never try to power house wiring by plugging the generator into a wall outlet. Plug individual appliances into the generator using heavy duty cords.

--Have a qualified electrician install the generator if you plan on connecting it to house wiring to power many appliances.

--Never store generator fuel in the home.

--Before refueling generator, turn it off and let it cool down. Gas spilled on hot engine parts could ignite.

Source: Progress Energy, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

[Last modified January 10, 2005, 01:15:16]