What to Check on Your Sarasota Generator After the Storm Passes | CoHarbor Electric

We got a call from a homeowner out near Siesta Key the week after a tropical system moved through last year. Generator ran the whole time, no issues, three days of power while half the street sat dark. She figured that was the end of the story — unit performed, nothing to worry about. When we finally got out there for an unrelated service call a month later, we found corrosion already forming on a couple of low-voltage connections and some grit packed into the intake vents from wind-blown debris. Nothing that had failed yet. But left alone, that’s exactly the kind of thing that turns into a no-start the next time a storm actually needs the generator to work.

That’s the part people don’t think about. A generator performing well during a storm doesn’t mean it came through unscathed. Wind-driven rain, salt spray carried further inland than usual, debris impact nobody noticed over the noise of the wind — all of it can leave damage that doesn’t show up as a failure until the next time you actually depend on the thing.

“It Ran Fine” Isn’t the Same as “It’s Fine”

A generator running through a storm is under real stress even when everything looks normal from the porch. It’s often running longer and under harder conditions than a routine weekly self-test. Meanwhile the storm itself is throwing things at the enclosure and pad that a calm week never would — rain finding its way past a seal that’s held up fine for years, debris nobody heard land, water pooling around the base if drainage got overwhelmed by the rainfall totals we sometimes see here. None of that stops the unit from running today, necessarily. It absolutely can set up a failure down the road.

So the post-storm check isn’t a formality. It’s the difference between catching a small issue now and finding out about a big one during the next outage.

Start With the Enclosure and the Pad

Before anything electrical, we look at the physical housing and what it’s sitting on.

• Standing water around the base. Even a generator on a properly elevated pad can end up with water pooled against it if drainage got overwhelmed during a heavy system. Standing water near the unit is a corrosion risk, and sometimes a sign the original site grading needs a second look.
• Debris in or near the intake and exhaust vents. Leaves, roofing grit, small branches — anything that blew in and settled can restrict airflow, and restricted airflow is how these units overheat.
• Physical damage to the housing. Cracked panels, a door seal that’s no longer sealing, dents from flying debris — all of it matters more here than it would on a garden shed, because the enclosure is what’s keeping weather away from the electrical components inside.

Salt Exposure Deserves Its Own Look

If you’re anywhere near the water — Siesta Key, Longboat Key, the barrier islands generally — storm winds carry salt spray well inland, further than people assume on a calm day. Salt accelerates corrosion on metal connections and terminals in a way plain rainwater doesn’t, and it does it quietly. A connection that looks fine can already be developing resistance that shows up later as an intermittent fault or, worse, a failure to start when you actually need it. This is the single biggest reason we tell coastal Sarasota homeowners not to skip a post-storm check just because the generator seemed to run perfectly.

Battery and Electrical Connections

Once the outside checks out, we move to the electrical side, which is where storm stress tends to hide.

Extended runtime during an outage puts real demand on the battery. If it was already marginal going into the storm, coming out the other side of a multi-day run is usually when that reveals itself. We check actual charge and condition, not just whether the unit started, because a battery can crank the engine one more time and still be close to done.

Connections and terminals get checked too — corrosion, looseness from vibration during extended operation, any sign of moisture intrusion around the wiring. This extends to the transfer switch, the component responsible for keeping your home’s system properly isolated from FPL’s grid while the generator’s running. If storm conditions compromised that connection in any way, it’s not something to leave unchecked given what’s riding on it working correctly the next time.

Fuel Lines and Tank Connections

For propane systems, we check tank connections and lines for shift or strain from high winds, particularly on above-ground tanks that took a direct hit from gusts. A line stressed during the storm might hold today and develop a slow leak weeks later. Better to catch it now than assume it’s fine because nothing smelled wrong during the storm itself.

What You Can Check Yourself, and What We’d Rather Look At

A basic visual pass — clearing debris, checking for obvious pooling water, glancing over the enclosure for damage — is reasonable for most homeowners to handle after a storm passes. Anything involving electrical connections, the transfer switch, battery load testing, or fuel line integrity is where we’d tell you to bring in someone licensed instead. Generators carry real voltage, and depending on fuel type, real combustion risk — and post-storm conditions, with wet ground and debris and reduced visibility if trees or fences came down nearby, make DIY inspection riskier than it would be on an ordinary afternoon.

We’ll also say plainly that we can’t promise a post-storm inspection catches every possible issue before it becomes one. What we can promise is a thorough look at the components that fail most often after storm stress, and honest information about what we actually find, rather than a rubber-stamp “looks good” because the unit happened to start.

Get Your Sarasota Generator Checked Before the Next System Builds

If your generator ran through a recent storm, or you just want it looked at before the next one develops in the Gulf, Coharbor Electric is a licensed and insured electrical contractor serving Sarasota homeowners from Siesta Key and Longboat Key through Bee Ridge and Southgate. We’ll check the enclosure, the electrical connections, the battery, and the fuel system for the kind of storm-related wear that doesn’t always announce itself right away. Reach out and get it checked now, while there’s time to fix a small issue before it becomes the reason your generator doesn’t start next time you need it.