Urgent Safety Warning

Immediate Action Required

Dear Valued Customer,

Your safety and the safety of every person inside your home require your immediate attention.

As Oklahoma’s leading generator dealer and service provider, Oklahoma Generator has recently assumed maintenance responsibilities for backup generators originally installed or serviced by Baker Bros. During inspections of these systems, our technicians have identified recurring installation deficiencies across multiple installations.

These deficiencies are serious. If similar conditions exist at your home, your generator may present immediate life-safety risks, including carbon monoxide exposure, fire, electrical hazards, and failure during the type of emergency it was installed to protect you from.

Do not assume your generator is safe simply because it has operated without an obvious problem. We cannot determine whether your installation contains dangerous conditions until it has been inspected. These hazards can remain hidden, give no warning, and reveal themselves only when the generator activates during an outage, when your family may be relying on it most.

The Risk of Carbon Monoxide Exposure

One of the most serious concerns repeatedly encountered is the potential for carbon monoxide (CO) exposure. Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless, and tasteless gas produced whenever fuel is burned. It cannot be seen, smelled, or detected without proper equipment, and exposure can be deadly.

When a generator is installed too close to a home, near windows, doors, soffit vents, crawl spaces, or other building openings, carbon monoxide may enter the living space and accumulate to dangerous levels.

Exposure to carbon monoxide can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, confusion, loss of consciousness, permanent brain injury, and death. Families are often unaware of the danger because carbon monoxide may provide no warning until symptoms begin. In some cases, it can be fatal without warning signs or noticeable physical symptoms.

This is not a hypothetical concern. Oklahoma Generator has already encountered several recent verified incidents involving carbon monoxide associated with faulty generator installation. One of these incidents was extremely dangerous and was thankfully resolved without significant consequences.

That incident underscores the seriousness of these deficiencies and the need for immediate inspection. If similar conditions exist at your home, the risk may already be present even if no warning signs have appeared.

Potential Installation Deficiencies

The deficiencies identified on other installations have included conditions such as:

Improper generator clearances: Generator locations that may not provide required clearances can increase the potential for carbon monoxide to enter a home. Hot exhaust placed too close to combustible materials may also create a fire hazard.
Unsafe fuel-system component placement: Fuel-system components may be installed in locations that present safety hazards. Gas regulator vents installed too close to combustion air intakes can create fire or explosion hazards.
Electrical deficiencies: Improper wiring, grounding, transfer equipment, or overcurrent protection may create fire or electrical shock risks.
Gas piping and fuel-system deficiencies: These conditions may affect the safe operation of the generator and could cause damage to the generator or other major appliances in the home.
Operational deficiencies: Other installation problems could affect the safe and reliable operation of the generator during a power outage, potentially causing the system to shut down when your family needs it most.

What to Do If You Suspect Carbon Monoxide

Until your installation has been evaluated, Oklahoma Generator urges you to treat this as a serious safety concern and exercise extreme caution when operating your generator.

If you have any reason to believe exhaust gases could be entering your home, or if anyone experiences symptoms consistent with carbon monoxide exposure while the generator is operating, shut the generator down if it is safe to do so, leave the building immediately, call emergency services, and contact Oklahoma Generator.

Complimentary Generator Safety Inspection

Oklahoma Generator is offering a complimentary generator safety inspection that begins with a brief virtual assessment. If potential safety concerns or other deficiencies are identified, our technicians will provide a detailed written report outlining the findings and recommended corrective actions.

This inspection is intended to identify potentially dangerous conditions before the next outage.

This matter should not be postponed. If hazardous conditions are present, each day that passes without an inspection is another day those conditions may remain hidden, unverified, and uncorrected.

Immediate action is necessary because the danger may not be visible, may provide no advance warning, and may only become apparent when the generator is operating during an outage or emergency. A prompt inspection is the only way to determine whether corrective action is necessary to protect your family, your home, and the safe operation of your generator.