Posted: 9/19/2008 3:07:21 AM EDT
In wake of all the stories here about stolen generators and threats from neighbors when they see you have power during a storm I am curious what you guys do to secure your generators. Yes I know we all have guns, and 1911's and glocks  but I am serious. After all, we can stay awake for days at a time.  Currently I have no way to secure mine. They say no garage because of the CO. Main plan I have is to build is an awning to keep storm off the generator as much as possible and bury with concrete the toughest, badest chain I could get with the largest lock I could buy. To suppliment this I currently have two retrievers that are great alert dogs to the presence of strangers. They won't attack but they will warn me so that I could attack.  Any other thoughts? Thanks |
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AAR from the fringes of IKE Regarding generators in a subdivision, you have three main factors to be concerned with. First is noise, most generators have been built for contractors to power loud tools on job sites. Noise is of no concern to that situation. Noise, however alerts everyone passing by of your generator and where it is. The areas without power become very quiet, well, until the chainsaws start up. You can hear the saws and the generators for blocks. Think Christmas morning, early, with a light snow falling. Second is light, this can be seen after dark a lot further than the noise can travel. Your site becomes a beacon for all. This is not an asset. Third is smell. We all have heard that CO is an odorless colorless emission from combustion engines, but the exhaust fumes are strong and very easily detectable. So what to do. Reduce your annoyance footprint in your neighborhood, do not run your genset when others around you are trying to sleep. Unless you have zombies moving around AND a neighborhood watch patrol, leave the lights out like everyone else. Most of the neighbors who are upset would be fine if they just got a good nights sleep. Your freezer should be good to go with no power from 10pm to 7am. Keep it full of neighbors stuff! Build a small enclosure that attenuates the noise. Get a better muffler installed now before need to reduce the decibels. Next make a small shed that has sound reduction and easy access. The best one I have seen was in Bellaire, middle of a bunch of houses about four feet tall and with a big stout door and had openings for cooling and exhaust air that deflected the rain and noise a bit. Also aids in retention of generator. The smell of the exhaust will bother some and annoy the hell out of the havenots. When you are hot, cannot sleep and are generally pissed off, the next focal point is where the anger is directed. Keep this in mind as you too have to sleep sometime. Fear of the exhaust (CO) and ignorance are powerfull forces. If the folks around you can smell the fumes they can become afraid of what they are hearing on the radio about the deaths from generator exhaust and extrapolate it to themselves. Here in the IKE area we have lost six or seven so far to CO poisioning. Do not run in an attached garage no matter how open your garage door is. You will die. Summary Reduce your visibility, increase your security, and become the team player, do not become THAT GUY. Ya'll be safe (it takes a small mind to only think of one way to spell a word) |
| Cables and locks are great deterents. They only serve to keep honest people honest. You would have to work hard with a set of bolt cutters, but with one of these, it would be like a hot knife thrugh butter. |
It doesnt even have to be cordless, they can plug right in! I hope I would notice/hear a grinder going tho |
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I don't have a generator, but have been thinking heavily about purchasing one. I'll probably go the portable route to use it for camping as well as power outages (just keeping the fridge, heater blower and maybe charging some laptop/other batteries charged). I have battery lights and there isn't to much need to rub it into the neighbors that I have power and they don't... A purpose-built generator storage/operations shed would be ideal. Construct it a foot or two off the ground (assuming higher isn't needed to avoid flooding). In the bottom, cut venting holes (let out the CO and provide airflow to keep it from overheating). Put a roof on it with some venting on the peak (let's the heat rise out the top). Think through the refueling and operations functions for your particular generator to make sure it isn't a total PITA to maintain. Add some fiberglass insulation to the walls and if you are concerned with combustion some firerated drywall, but the floor vents should allow and gasoline fumes to escape. Be sure to put some screening covering any holes in the shed, keeps the bugs and bees from setting up home in your shed. Secure the doors sufficiently with a good lock and lock/bolt the generator down tight inside the shed. For a little added security, back your vehicle up against the doors to the shed. Buy some of those cheap battery operated door/window security alarms (the ones that just wail real loud) and activate them when you are even more fearful of theft. If you did it right, there could likely be a smaller access panel that opens to allow you to start/stop and refuel the generator without opening the main door(s). The access panel would be too small for the generator to be removed through. Not gonna stop a hardened thief, but it may work to keep the less honest more honest  -David |
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I had this installed when I built my house. Two loops of re-bar set in the concrete. I'll use aircraft cable and good locks run through the inside of the generator to secure it to the ground. It will be hard....but not impossible...to cut the cables. I'll put it inside the garage when I leave. I still need to chip the concrete away and paint them.  
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I had the pleasure of buying a generator this past weekend due to windstorms. I put an eye bolt into the sill of the house. I used a 1/2" eye bolt, several washers and several nuts on the inside of the sill. I ran a master lock cable lock through it. I really should double that up and have it on both sides of the generator. I'm home during the night, so I run my generator from 3P-12M or later. Since I'm home, I can hear if the generator cuts off. When I'm at work, the generator is off. That's when I'm most worried about thieft. I don't have a garage, so I'm not sure how I'm going to store this beast when not in use. Hardwarz |
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You know, I was thinking about it. You only need to stop thiefts of oppurtunity. Anyone that is determined enought for a thieft will have the tools and you're not going to stop them unless you're physically there. Any kind of heavy chain or braided steel rope will work. Thicker the better so they can't use bolt cutters. Anything more than bolt cutters and the determination is there to walk off with your stuff. Hardwarz |
 Very true!
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Make your chain SHORT and try to chain it so they can't use bolt cutters or grinding wheels on your chain. Mine is chained to an eye hook that is cemented into the foundation in an outhouse. Once the genny was in place we built a shelf RIGHT above it so you cannot reach behind it to get to the chain without first breaking the shelf off of the wall. Our neighbors are like sitting ducks compared to us. I figure theives will just move on. They would also have to shoot my dogs which wouldn't go unheard. |
I hate to blow your Idea out of the water but you are not going to save any fuel.........the amount of fuel used to charge you batteries is going to be the same if not more (due to charger losses) than using your genny to run those same loads |
Wouldn't this also depend on which load level the generator runs most efficent at? If he has a large generator, and usually runs without much load, then charging the battery banks might actually be a little more efficent than running the generator more often. Like you said though, that'd likely be eaten up with charge/discharge. |
| If you run the freezer and such when the generator is running, and use the batts for lighting and TV you shopuld save quite a bit of fuel. Good inverter/chargers are 90-% efficient, and so is the battery, so you can extract 8 watts for every 10 you use to charge it. |
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When we were w/o power for multiple days and running the gen on/off I used one of those larger tow chains through the frame of the gen and then around the frame of our 3rd car and it was locked in the garage. Not that someone couldn't break into the garage and then cut the chain or lock or frame of the gen for that matter, but it kept out the honest. FB |
That's howI do it. |
Runnig a generator for 4 hours at full load is going to use a lot less fuel than letting it essentially idle for 24 hours. The engine will run much more efficiently at rated load. |
That was pretty good planning - except you used re-bar. Re-bar is very soft steel and cuts like butter by either saw or torch. Better would have been some 304 Stainless - no paint required and torch resistant, as well as a real pain to cut by hand saw. |
| I'll have mine in my fenced backyard and run it only for a few hours a day. I have a big chain to loop though a 4x4 in my deck. It produces more power than I can possibly use so I'll offer up power to some of the nearest neighbors in exchange for gas from their car's tanks. They've got five to seven cars a piece is seems so there's going to be plenty of gas to burn. |
I agree and would have done that if I had thought about it. However, they are set just the right height that the generator sets just above it and with the cable attached, you can't get a grinder to them to cut them. It will be a lot easier to get to the cable than it will be to get to the loops. On this note, if you ever pour a slab for anything, put a few loops like this around in out of the way spots. You can secure anything you can think of to them. I have plenty of concrete around the house and would have done a few more if I had thought about it. And use harder steel!! |
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I have a Honda EU2000 and I drilled a hole in the metal base plate and utilized an existing hole - then ran a cable through those to make a small loop.. then I am using a cable lock to secure it to something immobile... The only other place to secure the gen was thru the plastic handle - which wouldnt stand up to very much.. As already mentioned this will only keep the honest person away - but it is better than nothing.. Brian |
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Something I have considered. (yet have not done) is laying a slab big enough for both my gennies to sit on and then building walls around them with enough opening for the exhaust and then enough to pull them out to refill them. Then construct another slab for a roof. Encasing the generators the most/ best I can where they remain functional while in the lil sotrage case... The only thing I have not found is what type of gate I can use to put on the front opening. However the other day I was looking at burglar bars for windows, wondering if they would not work... I figure this could help with a couple of the concerns that come with generators... 1. Concrete would help to reduce/ redirect some of the noise assciated with them. 2. It would provide a better deterrent then cables and locks. 3. It would give me some place I could reasonably expect to store them year round. 4. My generators manual says to keep it out of pouring rain Dunno, if it will work. But I will be giving it a shot. |