CORPUS CHRISTI — A generator may not be something people had last week. Stores like Northern Tool and Equipment said they’ve not only seen an increase in sales, they’ve had more people come in to get their generators fixed after realizing they don’t work.
They warn you should turn on your generator once a month to make sure it’s running properly ,but said there’s a few other things to remember.
“Whenever you have these generators, you don’t operate them indoors…not in your garage. Keep them well away from doors and windows even if they’re outside because they do produce carbon monoxide,” Tim Keener, the Corpus Christi Northern Tool and Equipment Regional Sales Manager said.
Northern Tool and Equipment said when you come into the store you should know what kinds of things you want to power up so they can get you the right generator.
They also said a generator should be routinely serviced because if you let it sit for long periods of time, t’s possible it won’t work. That’s because the gas may have gone bad or the unit won’t crank. They said there are a few preventive measures you can take so that won’t happen.
“Make sure if you’re going to store fuel in it, make sure it’s ethanol-free…put some stabilizer in it. Pretty much just follow manuals as far as air filters and spark plugs…stuff like that,” Dennis Deanda, their parts and service technician said.
The Generator Supercenter also said they’ve seen an increase in sales and maintenance requests and stresses that there’s a time limit on how long you should keep it running.
“If your generator has been running for about 72 hours…you’re going to want to shut it down and we do instruct people on how to do that after we install them and you want to check the oil,” Robert Deshazo, the Corpus Christi president of Generator Supercenter said.
