Test Your Generator Before You Need It

Oct 31, 2026 · preparedness

A generator is a funny kind of tool. You buy it for the worst week of the year, and then it sits. Months go by. Maybe a year. It sits through heat and cold and damp, and everybody just figures it’ll start when it’s called on.

That is a lot of faith to put in a machine nobody’s tested.

At our house the generator matters more than most, because when it runs, our well runs, and when the well runs, we’ve got water. Folks on a well know the math: no generator, no water, and that clock starts ticking fast. But even if you’re on city water, a dead generator in an ice storm means no heat help, no fridge, no lights, nothing. So test it. Not when the sky is falling. Now, while the weather’s fine and a problem is just a problem, not an emergency.

Here’s the test, and it’s short. Start it up and let it run a good twenty or thirty minutes. And don’t just let it sit there idling, either. Put a load on it. Plug in something that draws real power, like a space heater, and let the machine work a while. Running under load burns it clean, shows you it’ll carry what you ask of it, and charges everything that needs charging. A generator that starts but quits under load is telling you something, and it’s better to hear it on a Saturday than at two in the morning with the house getting cold.

While it’s running, walk the whole setup in your head. Where does it sit? Outside, well away from the house and the windows, because the exhaust will kill a family quiet as anything. Never in the garage. How does the power get in? A proper inlet and an interlock or transfer switch is the right way, the way our house is set up. Never plug a generator into a wall outlet in the house. Folks call that backfeeding, and it can send power out onto the lines where a lineman is working. That can kill a man who’s out there trying to help you. Don’t do it, ever.

Check the small stuff while you’re at it. Oil: look at the level, and keep spare oil put back, because a generator running day and night in a long outage eats oil changes fast, every fifty to a hundred hours by the book. Fuel: if yours runs on gas, old gas goes bad, so rotate it or treat it; if it runs on propane like ours, check what’s in the tank while the weather’s good. And keep the simple parts on hand: a spare plug, a filter, the cord, all in one spot where you can find them in the dark.

Do this little test once a month, or at least every couple of months, and write the date on a piece of tape on the machine if it helps you remember. Folks who test their gear own gear that works. Folks who don’t own a heavy box and a hope.

Proverbs 21:31 says the horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord. Both parts matter. Trusting God was never a reason to let the machine sit and rust. Get it ready, keep it ready, and leave the rest to Him.

Test it this weekend, y’all, while a no-start is still just a story you tell at supper, and not the story of your storm.