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ESTATE LIFESTYLE

GENERATOR

DO'S AND DONT'S
By Nicole Zerwick

he current realities of load shedding and
power outages due to cable theft have Our Estate Manager, Dirk Heyns, off ered the
homeowners looking for alternative means to following insights:
Tsupply electricity to their homes. Generators, We cannot prescribe what time a generator must be switched
once found only in bush camps and remote rural farms, off, so the use of generators cannot fall under the normal

have become a popular choice for electricity generation noise rules. We would, however, like to ask residents who want
to private households. When considering, or using a to purchase generators to consider their neighbours in the
generator there are two main areas to take into account: following manner:
safe installation and the issue of noise nuisance.
• Make sure you purchase a generator that creates the least
Let us start with the safe installation of generators, noise possible.
either back-up generators or stand-by generators.
Back-up generators run independently from the • A permanent generator outside, i.e. a stand-by generator,
electrical system of your household. There is no actual should be placed in a closed brick structure with a solid door
installation involved as the generator is not connected to dampen the noise levels as much as possible.
to your household’s existing electrical structure in
any way. When the power goes out, the generator • Normally residents want to place these structures as far
needs to be started up manually and plugged into the away from the house as possible. By choosing a suitable
selected appliances that you would like to use. Stand-by location, please consider your neighbours and do not place
generators on the other hand, are installed directly to it close to their houses - especially consider the position of
your house’s electrical system and automatically kick bedrooms and living areas.
in when the power goes out. This installation would
need to be done by a professional electrician and with • When linking the generator to the power supply of your
permission granted by the local municipal authority house, ask the electrician to install a kill switch so that the
electricity department. generator will stop once the power returns. We have had
examples of a generator that kept on running after the
When using either type of generator, homeowners power had been restored, as it had to be manually switched
have to take into account the impact of possible noise off, which created unnecessary issues.

nuisance to their neighbours. While Cornwall Hill Estate
does not have specific rules regarding generators, we do • If you have a smart meter or prepaid electricity meter with

have rules regarding noises levels, which are as follows: a standby generator remember to make sure that there is
sufficient power on your meter and that it will not run out if

15.2.5 The use of power saws, lawnmowers, bush you are away on holiday. This happened over New Year two
cutters, weed eaters and the like causing noise will only years ago and the neighbour had to endure the noise of the
be indulged between the following hours: generator for a few days. Rather switch off the link between

May – August 07:30 – 18:00 the generator and the power to your house when going
September – April 07:00 – 19:00 away on holiday if power is not needed, or if your generator
Sundays are regarded as 'private time' and such does not have a switch to turn off when power is restored.

activities will be refrained from.
Cornwall View • Issue 6 2019 13