Emergency Generator Policy?

James,

We don't have a policy. We do have a few homeowners that have purchased portable generators.
Our Board's opinion is that generators are used in emergency situations (extended power outages, etc.) and therefore, any issues would be between neighbors and as a rule, our HOA doesn't get involved in neighbor to neighbor conflicts.

If the generators were permanent, they would of course need approval prior to being installed. We haven't had this issue come before us. If it did, we would consider the application as if it were a shed, deck, etc. Any safety issues would be handled by the county as permits would be required.

Tim

We recently went throught a similar situation with a Tornado outbreak. It was an extreme rare event with the power grid that has never happened before. We lost 8 of 10 power feeder lines to the upper part of our state. All of them lost for our county. They had to rebuild transmission lines from scratch which took over a week to almost 2 weeks to get power back. Some areas that were devasted lost power for a month. There was a rash of generators purchased by many owners during that time. The noise was LOUD. After the power was restored, some decided to permanently hook up their generators.

The generators are fire hazaard and containment concerns. Our HOA doesn't have an official policy on generators but maybe some noise regulations such as no loud noises after 10 pm and before 7 am. That is about all that can be enforced. The generators do have to cool down for a period of time so some people did turn them off at night for bedtime. Which did cut down the noise level some. That may be a request the HOA can make in regards to controlling the noise.

I would consult the fire marshall in your area to come and discuss the issue. They could give you all more insight in handling this issue. Maybe some fire prevention type rules that your HOA could include in your next updating of your documentation. It really depends on the set up of your HOA. Our HOA even though we had fireplaces in some of the homes, we discouraged people to use them. That is because many of the houses were either attached or set only about 15 feet from eachother. One fire could burn down 3 houses. We did in fact have 1 house burn down because of a bad fireplace that did melt siding off on the other homes next to it. That is why I recommend a discussion with the fire department atleast once a year to make sure your neighborhood can do things to work together with them. We worked with ours to make sure the streets were accessible to the fire trucks by closing off one side of the road for no parking.

I understand what you have been through. Hopefully, your HOA can find a safe solution and some noise control solutions for the future.

there are natural gas, whole house generators that are super quiet. quieter than a dishwasher. they are expensive but get permanently installed on a slab with automatic switchover when power goes out. they are expensive though. might be an idea to allow those for homeowners providing they meet noise level requirements and are professionally installed by a licensed electrician.

maybe temporary ones maybe can be used when the power outage exceeds 12 hrs or something like that. most refrigerators will keep food cool that long provided the door is left closed.

i would not ban hours during which they can be used because most use them for important things like keeping their fridge going and emergency lighting.

this is especially important in tornado and hurricane areas where this stuff frequently happens.