Before the Season (Do This in Spring)
- Annual service completed. Oil, oil filter, air filter, and spark plugs on the manufacturer's schedule, plus a once-over of the whole system. A unit serviced in April doesn't surprise you in September.
- Battery tested and its age known. The starting battery is the most common reason a standby generator fails to start. Standby batteries commonly last about three to five years — if yours is in that window, have it load-tested or replaced before the season, not after the first fault.
- Exercise history clean. The unit exercises itself weekly. Check the controller or monitoring app for stored faults or missed exercises and clear up the cause now; a fault in May is information, the same fault in a storm is an outage.
- Exercise time set sensibly. Confirm the weekly exercise runs at a courteous hour — midday, not dawn. (It's also the loudest routine sound the unit makes; our noise guide covers what to expect.)
- Fuel read and planned. On propane, read the tank gauge and schedule a fill so you start the season with a full tank — the gauge math is in our propane tank sizing guide. On natural gas there's nothing to fill, which is the point of natural gas.
- Clearances clear. Trim back vegetation and remove anything stored against the unit, back to the manufacturer clearances in our cost guide — the unit needs to breathe and be serviceable.
- Transfer switch tested under load. An exercise run proves the engine starts; a load test proves the switch actually transfers your house. Ask your installer or dealer to run one at the annual service if it hasn't been done — it's the difference between testing the generator and testing the system.
- Monitoring connected. If your unit has remote monitoring, confirm alerts actually reach your phone. This matters most for Baldwin County's second homes and rentals: a monitoring alert in June beats a neighbor's phone call after landfall.
- Know the manual shutdown. Read the procedure in your owner's manual for shutting the unit down and restarting it by hand. You may never need it; if you do, mid-outage is a bad time to learn.
When a Storm Is Headed for the Gulf
- Top off propane. Delivery schedules fill quickly once a storm is named. A full tank before landfall is days of runtime in the bank.
- Secure the area. Anything near the unit that wind can move — furniture, grills, loose panels — can end up in it or on it. Move it or tie it down.
- Re-check intake and exhaust. Both must be clear for the unit to run safely for days.
- Second-home owners: confirm your alerts and make sure a local contact — neighbor, property manager, your installer — knows the house is monitored and who gets called if it faults.
During the Storm
Stay inside and let the machine work — it's built to run unattended. Generac's guidance for extended outages is explicit on this point: only approach, inspect, or shut down the generator when weather conditions make it safe to do so. If the outage stretches past a day, the extended-run rhythm applies — a brief shutdown about every 24 hours of continuous running to check the oil and look the unit over, when it's safe to be outside.
Carbon monoxide — the rule that outranks all others: if you also own a portable generator, it runs outdoors only — never in a garage, carport, or near an open window — positioned away from the house with its exhaust pointed away, per CDC guidance (the CDC's rule of thumb for portables is outside, more than 20 feet from the home). Your standby unit was installed to code clearances for the same reason: keep its exhaust path clear, and keep working CO alarms on every floor of the home.
After the Storm
- Walk around when it's safe. Look for water intrusion, debris in or against the enclosure, physical damage, and standing water around the unit.
- If floodwater reached the unit, don't run it. Have a dealer or installer inspect it first — water inside the enclosure or alternator turns a repair into a replacement.
- Check the oil after any long run, and review the controller for faults recorded during the storm.
- Count the hours. A multi-day outage can consume most of an oil-change interval (200 run hours is the standard Generac air-cooled interval). If the storm piled up hours, schedule service rather than waiting for the calendar.
- Restock and reset. Refill propane, clear the debris, and put the exercise schedule back to normal life.
For what Baldwin County outages actually look like — how many meters were out, and for how long, after Sally and Ivan — see our Baldwin County outage history. It's the reason this checklist exists.
Guidance follows Generac Support's published outage-preparation and extended-run articles and CDC carbon-monoxide safety guidance for portable generators. Your owner's manual and installer govern your specific unit. Last updated: October 2026.