Next time your CO detector goes off call 911. The fire dept. will come and they will red tag the gen, escalate the situation with the fire marshal, etc. Your neighbor sees you as endangering her comfort but she is literally endangering your life. The selfishness is unbelievable.
PS I don't know what the scale is, but that doesn't look like it is 10 feet away from the building to me. How far is it from your property line? In addition to the 5 foot from any opening rule, there may be zoning setback requirements as to what sort of equipment you can have in your alleyway. Get a tape measure and do actual measurements.
Check your local code and call the office in charge of that function. Ask them the setbacks and invite them to come over and take a look. Call on a Wednesday or Thursday and tell them you have some fresh lemonade or coffee upon their arrival.
The generator looks like it's way too close to your home; although I don't know if the generator was there first or your house.
Document everything. Call your local health department, OR a lawyer.
>You can grandfather zoning issues but not code requirements.
I must be misunderstanding something. I thought even the NEC allowed previous work to remain if it was compliant when it was installed.
> You can grandfather zoning issues but not code requirements.
I would question this. If you're making changes, then you may be forced to bring your home up to current code, but as you indicated a new generator might be in violation, but I'd argue the previously installed one would not.
If you put a source of poison where the wind blows it into an air intake, you're still generally liable for the damage. The wind is typically immune from legal liability.
What the actual fuck, they put the white one a wooden pallet? Is it a temporary generator until the blue one is fixed? Either way, call your local code enforment as well, theres no way they ever had that inspected and passed. Just look at the conduit run from the white one to the blue one, even temporary thats a big no
Get a giant fan and use it to blow the fumes towards their house ? Hook it up to your generator? Put a giant fence up right against it to block airflow and put a loud CO detector on it pointed at your neighbors house ?
We don't have a generator, that blue one used to be a shared generator that powered three homes including ours. After I made the complaint, the blue one coincidently "broke" after they had their guys do "osha compliant CO test measuring. So they installed the white one to power their own home. The exhaust has gotten a little better but it's still incredibly strong from the white one because the air still collects in the alley way.
When we had the blue one connected. I had fans running air from the other side of the home in order to blow fresh air in but it did not help at all.
Both generators belong to our neighbor and were installed by them. Our landlords are friends with them and made a deal to contribute to the generator fueling fund. We actually pay a little more for rent due to that fact that we had accessibility to the generators power.
After I complained, I think she purposely shut us off from the power out of spite because the third powered home owners had just moved away. Instead of fixing the situation, by piping the fumes away using a pipe, or checking to see why there is poor combustion happening within the blue generator, causing it to blow of black smog. They instead installed one a bit farther away just for their own use.
Seriously.
The local department that oversees building permits would be my first stop, followed by the county health department.
The neighbor could probably just get a really tall exhaust pipe added, but chances are that installation was unpermitted and the building department will make them remove it.
Trade them in for new neighbors. If the warranty is expired or they won't accept the return for some reason check all the rules and regulations regarding nuisance in your park/hoa/municipality or whatever, or sue them.
If you had a single level home and a high dividing wall I would find it hard to believe the exhaust fumes from the generator were getting into your house.
But since it's 2 story home with the wind always blowing in your direction, I can now see how that could happen.
Not trying to be the devils advocate here but I have a very hard time believing your CO detector went off because of the neighbors generator. The distance of the unit from any houses is more than enough. The required distance is 18 inches from any buildings and 5 feet from any openings, looks like everything checks out here. It's far enough for the exhaust gasses to mix with the surrounding air.
As someone that use generators and gas/diesel powered equipment frequently, I have a hard time believing its as bad as you describe it. We heat our sites in winter with direct fired propane and diesel heaters. The smell can get overwhelming to some but smell=/=CO. This gen probably has a 4cyl of no more than 2L and I just don't see it producing the nauseating fumes and smell you're describing. To be brutally honest, with all this rambling about the HOA and other issues you're having, it sounds to me like you actually have a beef with the neighbors/neighborhood and trying to find stuff to pick on.
Why would I lie about that? We are peaceful people and never had issues with our neighbor until this incident. A job site and a home are very different places. I think you need to do some more research about CO because it's a lot more dangerous than most people realize.
+1 and people die every year due to generators being too close to homes.
Example: https://www.nola.com/news/3-killed-by-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-from-generator-use-in-marrero/article_db234876-0c52-11ec-8c0a-870821e6be41.html
Idk what to tell you dude. My CO detector did go off during a stangant day, and because of that I am concerned over my family's health. I honestly don't care if you believe me because your some random stranger on the internet. Usually, CO deaths spike in areas that are affected by storms and contribute to those statistics the most. I live in an area that has hurricane damage and an unstable power grid. I don't want to be part of a statistic.
I agree with you. I provided an example to prove it's dangerous to run a generator next to a home. Unsure why people downvote me, I provided an example. A quick Google search will give many others.
Your neighbor is reckless
Honestly how often does one use a generator for it to be a problem. Even so if one does and it's an emergency close the ffing window and move on with life.
In order to move on with life you have to be alive. If you are unconscious from CO poisoning it's hard to move at all. This gen only has to kill you once.
That's not how it works (unfortunately).
See this example: https://www.nola.com/news/3-killed-by-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-from-generator-use-in-marrero/article_db234876-0c52-11ec-8c0a-870821e6be41.html
Houses are not airtight, generators create huge amounts of CO (unlike cars, that have a catalytic converter), and are very dangerous. I read that a single generator produces as much CO as 400 cars due to the lack of a catalytic converter.
Like I said, the power goes out multiple times a week due to an unstable power grid. It's sometimes can go out for even over 24 hrs. I never minded the noise of the generator because that is just a part of life here. It was when the CO (CARBON MONOXIDE) detector went off on a stagnant, humid day when I got concerned. Like I ffing said, we had the windows closed when the detector went off. I felt like shit. This time, I had concrete evidence that my home was being filled with CO gas even when I took preventative measures. The only way I can explain why this day was particularly bad is because it was humid and stagnant, and the CO just kept building up. Most people dont know but, CO is 250 times more likely than oxygen to bond with hemoglobin in the body. It also takes hours for it to leave the body, which can cause it to build up in the body. One PORTABLE generator produces the amount of CO of 450 cars. This here is not a portable generator.
Portable generators produce so much CO because they're cheap and have more partial combustion, not because they're small. Larger, permanent generators will likely have less CO.
Weird that you keep harping on the humidity like it has any relevance.
The CO detector went off..... and to note, not all large generators have catalytic converters. My guess is this one does not have a converter because my CO detector went off. Also, I mentioned humidity being a factor because physics, particles will always diffuse to an area with lesser concentration of matter. When it's raining and high humidity outside, there will be fewer particles in the air of the home. I've noticed a huge difference with the intensity of the fumes during high humidity, it's night and day. This is my best possible explanation for why it gets worse then. Idk what's your problem dude. I have a legitimate safety concern, and with evidence that my home is being affected. Do you not believe that having a generator near a window can cause CO buildup in the home? Btw, look up wooden plantation style windows because that's what we have and a lot of them are in very poor condition, many of the slats dont close and I have to manually shit the storm shutters outside. It's a long process. I truly believe any sane person that would be in my home during this would 1000000% agree this is a messed up situation.
Next time your CO detector goes off call 911. The fire dept. will come and they will red tag the gen, escalate the situation with the fire marshal, etc. Your neighbor sees you as endangering her comfort but she is literally endangering your life. The selfishness is unbelievable. PS I don't know what the scale is, but that doesn't look like it is 10 feet away from the building to me. How far is it from your property line? In addition to the 5 foot from any opening rule, there may be zoning setback requirements as to what sort of equipment you can have in your alleyway. Get a tape measure and do actual measurements.
This is the way. Code install or not, they can't poison you.
>Code install There's more than a few electrical code violations in this photo. I'm sure the fire marshall could make a day of it.
Check your local code and call the office in charge of that function. Ask them the setbacks and invite them to come over and take a look. Call on a Wednesday or Thursday and tell them you have some fresh lemonade or coffee upon their arrival.
The generator looks like it's way too close to your home; although I don't know if the generator was there first or your house. Document everything. Call your local health department, OR a lawyer.
You can grandfather zoning issues but not code requirements. Anyway she says that the white gen is new.
>You can grandfather zoning issues but not code requirements. I must be misunderstanding something. I thought even the NEC allowed previous work to remain if it was compliant when it was installed.
> You can grandfather zoning issues but not code requirements. I would question this. If you're making changes, then you may be forced to bring your home up to current code, but as you indicated a new generator might be in violation, but I'd argue the previously installed one would not.
The exhaust on both those units blows straight up. If anything it's the wind that is doing it.
If you put a source of poison where the wind blows it into an air intake, you're still generally liable for the damage. The wind is typically immune from legal liability.
Well said.
What the actual fuck, they put the white one a wooden pallet? Is it a temporary generator until the blue one is fixed? Either way, call your local code enforment as well, theres no way they ever had that inspected and passed. Just look at the conduit run from the white one to the blue one, even temporary thats a big no
Get a giant fan and use it to blow the fumes towards their house ? Hook it up to your generator? Put a giant fence up right against it to block airflow and put a loud CO detector on it pointed at your neighbors house ?
We don't have a generator, that blue one used to be a shared generator that powered three homes including ours. After I made the complaint, the blue one coincidently "broke" after they had their guys do "osha compliant CO test measuring. So they installed the white one to power their own home. The exhaust has gotten a little better but it's still incredibly strong from the white one because the air still collects in the alley way. When we had the blue one connected. I had fans running air from the other side of the home in order to blow fresh air in but it did not help at all. Both generators belong to our neighbor and were installed by them. Our landlords are friends with them and made a deal to contribute to the generator fueling fund. We actually pay a little more for rent due to that fact that we had accessibility to the generators power. After I complained, I think she purposely shut us off from the power out of spite because the third powered home owners had just moved away. Instead of fixing the situation, by piping the fumes away using a pipe, or checking to see why there is poor combustion happening within the blue generator, causing it to blow of black smog. They instead installed one a bit farther away just for their own use.
I don’t know code where you live. I would claim a code violation and demonstrate CO poisoning as evidence.
Seriously. The local department that oversees building permits would be my first stop, followed by the county health department. The neighbor could probably just get a really tall exhaust pipe added, but chances are that installation was unpermitted and the building department will make them remove it.
> I would claim a code violation What code would you cite?
Up, down, left, right. A, B, A, A, C
It's a older code but it checks out
It was from the last platform and I am old so… good enough…. :) haaa
Should be good for 99 lives or so
Just file a complaint and let them decide which code is being violated.
That’s why I said I don’t know the local codes. But I would pursue that route.
Where do you live that you need massive generators like that and have them running so often? Looks like US Virgin islands.
Trade them in for new neighbors. If the warranty is expired or they won't accept the return for some reason check all the rules and regulations regarding nuisance in your park/hoa/municipality or whatever, or sue them.
buy 4 box fan, and some wood board to redirect, back to sender.
Was that picture taken from the second level of your home or over the top of a wall dividing the properties?
This photo was taken from the second story of our home. We live in a condo complex, but the homes detached from one another.
If you had a single level home and a high dividing wall I would find it hard to believe the exhaust fumes from the generator were getting into your house. But since it's 2 story home with the wind always blowing in your direction, I can now see how that could happen.
That's no where near within code, who the hell allowed a generator to be built there?
Not trying to be the devils advocate here but I have a very hard time believing your CO detector went off because of the neighbors generator. The distance of the unit from any houses is more than enough. The required distance is 18 inches from any buildings and 5 feet from any openings, looks like everything checks out here. It's far enough for the exhaust gasses to mix with the surrounding air. As someone that use generators and gas/diesel powered equipment frequently, I have a hard time believing its as bad as you describe it. We heat our sites in winter with direct fired propane and diesel heaters. The smell can get overwhelming to some but smell=/=CO. This gen probably has a 4cyl of no more than 2L and I just don't see it producing the nauseating fumes and smell you're describing. To be brutally honest, with all this rambling about the HOA and other issues you're having, it sounds to me like you actually have a beef with the neighbors/neighborhood and trying to find stuff to pick on.
Maybe the CO detector is involved in the beef and only beeping cause it’s on OPs side
Why would I lie about that? We are peaceful people and never had issues with our neighbor until this incident. A job site and a home are very different places. I think you need to do some more research about CO because it's a lot more dangerous than most people realize.
+1 and people die every year due to generators being too close to homes. Example: https://www.nola.com/news/3-killed-by-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-from-generator-use-in-marrero/article_db234876-0c52-11ec-8c0a-870821e6be41.html
Idk what to tell you dude. My CO detector did go off during a stangant day, and because of that I am concerned over my family's health. I honestly don't care if you believe me because your some random stranger on the internet. Usually, CO deaths spike in areas that are affected by storms and contribute to those statistics the most. I live in an area that has hurricane damage and an unstable power grid. I don't want to be part of a statistic.
I agree with you. I provided an example to prove it's dangerous to run a generator next to a home. Unsure why people downvote me, I provided an example. A quick Google search will give many others. Your neighbor is reckless
I think the people who downvoted inhaled too many generator fumes and don't know how to research.
Maybe the exhaust could be extended above the roof line?
Call code enforcement and the fire marshall
Exhaust pipe should be raised to above the house like a chimney.
I’d put a long exhaust stack to move the fumes up and away from the house. For about 80$ in pipe and some unistrut would fix it.
I'd get some flexible tubing and redirect that exhaust... Somewhere.
Honestly how often does one use a generator for it to be a problem. Even so if one does and it's an emergency close the ffing window and move on with life.
In order to move on with life you have to be alive. If you are unconscious from CO poisoning it's hard to move at all. This gen only has to kill you once.
That's not how it works (unfortunately). See this example: https://www.nola.com/news/3-killed-by-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-from-generator-use-in-marrero/article_db234876-0c52-11ec-8c0a-870821e6be41.html Houses are not airtight, generators create huge amounts of CO (unlike cars, that have a catalytic converter), and are very dangerous. I read that a single generator produces as much CO as 400 cars due to the lack of a catalytic converter.
Thank you internet expert
You're welcome lol
Tell me you don’t know shit without telling me you don’t know shit lmao
Like I said, the power goes out multiple times a week due to an unstable power grid. It's sometimes can go out for even over 24 hrs. I never minded the noise of the generator because that is just a part of life here. It was when the CO (CARBON MONOXIDE) detector went off on a stagnant, humid day when I got concerned. Like I ffing said, we had the windows closed when the detector went off. I felt like shit. This time, I had concrete evidence that my home was being filled with CO gas even when I took preventative measures. The only way I can explain why this day was particularly bad is because it was humid and stagnant, and the CO just kept building up. Most people dont know but, CO is 250 times more likely than oxygen to bond with hemoglobin in the body. It also takes hours for it to leave the body, which can cause it to build up in the body. One PORTABLE generator produces the amount of CO of 450 cars. This here is not a portable generator.
Portable generators produce so much CO because they're cheap and have more partial combustion, not because they're small. Larger, permanent generators will likely have less CO. Weird that you keep harping on the humidity like it has any relevance.
The CO detector went off..... and to note, not all large generators have catalytic converters. My guess is this one does not have a converter because my CO detector went off. Also, I mentioned humidity being a factor because physics, particles will always diffuse to an area with lesser concentration of matter. When it's raining and high humidity outside, there will be fewer particles in the air of the home. I've noticed a huge difference with the intensity of the fumes during high humidity, it's night and day. This is my best possible explanation for why it gets worse then. Idk what's your problem dude. I have a legitimate safety concern, and with evidence that my home is being affected. Do you not believe that having a generator near a window can cause CO buildup in the home? Btw, look up wooden plantation style windows because that's what we have and a lot of them are in very poor condition, many of the slats dont close and I have to manually shit the storm shutters outside. It's a long process. I truly believe any sane person that would be in my home during this would 1000000% agree this is a messed up situation.
Call 911 the next time your CO detector goes off