CPSC warns 1 portable generator can release as much carbon monoxide as hundreds of cars

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is reminding people carbon monoxide poisoning from portable generators doesn’t just happen during the winter months. Summer storms can also knock out electricity, causing some people to use a generator for power.

(KXAN) -- The Consumer Product Safety Commission is reminding people carbon monoxide poisoning from portable generators doesn’t just happen during the winter months. Summer storms can also knock out electricity, causing some people to use a generator for power.

“We want to let people know that the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning increases in those summer months with those power outages,” said Patty Davis with the CPSC.

More than 150 people in the United States die every year from accidental non-fire related CO poisoning, and some of those deaths are associated with generators. 

A new study from the commission is raising awareness about the odorless invisible killer.

"Our new report shows about 100 people die every year from carbon monoxide poisoning from portable generators,” said Davis. “If you look back over the last decade, about one in four of the deaths with generators from CO poisoning are African American.”

The Commission is urging people to buy a carbon monoxide detector and warns just one portable generator can produce the same about of carbon monoxide gas as hundreds of cars

“CO from a portable generator can kill you and your family in minutes. You can lose consciousness easily.”

If you use a portable generator this summer, the CPSC wants you to keep the generator outside, 20 feet away from your home, and never operate it in a garage.

Point the exhaust away from your home when you're running that generator and away from your neighbor's home so you don't expose them as well.