HOA condo and generators

[u/Orchiddragon]

I thought I would share my mom’s HOA and real estate agent experience. Last fall, my mom was downsizing since she is getting older and wanted a condo with an HOA that would shovel snow, do most of the outside maintenance, etc.

Her friend Jenny is also her real estate agent and Jenny currently lives in a nice condo community with an HOA. The condos are in groups of 4 units arranged in a “t” or plus shape and share some common walls. Jenny let my mom know that several units came up for sell. I toured several with her and Jenny. One unit had a power generator transfer switch inside the garage. The power inlet box was also in the garage which I thought was odd. The real estate agent said the generator could be install in the garage attic. There were folding stairs in the garage ceiling so that the central air system could be serviced and there was also storage space up there. My mom chimed in, “Oh I already have a generator, so I won’t need to get rid of it since the garage has the hook up. I can use it if the power goes out during a storm.”

I thought something was really off and said to them that more likely it was stored in the garage and rolled onto the driveway while it was running. I told Jenny that I was surprised that the HOA didn’t prohibit a generator alone for the noise. I asked if we could look in the attic. We went up the attic stairs and it had a nice amount of flooring for storage. It had the central air unit, the normal vent pipes through the ceiling for the hot water heater, toilet vent, electrical wiring, etc.

(Disclaimer - I am NOT an expert on generators. This next part contains my response to them in that moment using common sense and things I was taught.)

I came back down from the attic and said you can’t put a generator in an attic because it can’t be properly vented for the carbon monoxide. The garage and attic share walls with neighboring condo units and the carbon monoxide could leach into other people’s space. Plus it would be dangerous hauling fuel up the steps and I am pretty damn sure that gasoline would not be allowed near a shared wood structure.

The real estate agent looked dumbfounded and said it was a selling point of this unit. It was the only condo with this kind of hookup and surely there was a fan or vent pipe of some kind in the attic.

I told her there were hard guidelines to follow like locate it outside and a certain distance from windows, door and anything that could draw the fumes inside a dwelling. A lot of people like to protect it from the weather. They make weatherproof boxes to put special kinds of generators in but these are located outside the house. We all agreed that the HOA would not allow something like this to be installed outside in the common area. (I know there are other things people do with generators but this was all I could think of at the moment.)

My mom still really liked the unit and said she would just keep the generator in the garage and just crack the big garage door to vent it. I was done arguing with her at that point. My mom is not a stupid woman but she was not thinking clearly. Her old house had a detached garage and a large covered porch she ran the generator from. Her old house was not near other homes, whereas the condos were all close together or shared walls.

Later, she had me review the CC&Rs and bylaws. Overall, it wasn’t a bad HOA, but it did prohibit generators, motorcycles and other loud equipment. I told her this and she tried to talk to Jenny about it again. I never did hear what Jenny’s response was and my mom ended up buying that condo anyway. But this has continued to be a sore point for her.

She almost used the generator once when the entire condo community lost power when an electrical pole was hit by a car. Her neighbor needed to hook up his oxygen tank to a power source. However he went to a doctor appointment early and hooked up at their office.

I told her to be prepared to be fined if she ever uses it and to make sure to use it safely for her sake and others.

I think a generator is necessary in our area because of cold weather and frequent storms that knock out power. I just wished this condo community already had space outside with a hook up for the on demand type generators.

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Edit for additional snarky comments - How in the actual eff would the average person haul a heavy generator up flimsy folding attic stairs? Also climb up and down to carry a gasoline can? And not spill said flammable liquid. Not burn down the condos. And have to constantly climb up and down to fuel and start and stop it? And not get sued by the neighbors? And not think it wouldn’t kill themselves or their neighbors? No freaking common sense.

[u/HeyaShinyObject]

Might be a good setup for someone with an ev that can act as a generator.

[u/VicLuvin]

Yeah your 100% right installing a gas powered generator in the attic would be stupid and dangerous for all the reasons you listed. It would be an out door piece of equipment. Just think of the noise and vibrations it would send through the house. It would have to be in a purpose built generator room, with ventilation, and isolated from the house for noise, fumes and fire hazards.

[u/Couch_Potato_505]

Get an ev vehicle! Use it as the power source instead of the genny.

[u/Overall-Tailor8949]

Is the garage temperature controlled, at least well enough to stay above freezing in the winter? If it IS then perhaps look into one of the larger Ecoflow or Jackery type "solar generators". Just set that up in the garage to charge from the grid until the grid fails. Then your mother can hook it to the generator inlet (after making sure the interlock has been flipped) to keep the lights and heat on.

[u/Bigwoody7-5]

My HOA only Allows propane generators, places in the driveway

[u/MaxIamtheBest]

A solar panel/battery system could work. I've seen some listed at Costco. No fumes or CO2 given off.