Safety Standard for Portable Generators

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has determined preliminarily that there may be an unreasonable risk of injury and death associated with portable generators. To address this risk, the Commission proposes a rule that limits CO emissions from operating portable generators. Specifically, the proposed rule would require that portable generators powered by handheld spark-ignition (SI) engines and Class I SI engines not exceed a weighted CO emission rate of 75 grams per hour (g/hr); generators powered by one-cylinder, Class II SI engines must not exceed a weighted CO emission rate of 150 g/h; and generators powered by Class II SI engines with two cylinders must not exceed a weighted emission rate of 300 g/h.