How do you secure your generator?

[DanKellFla]

Fortunetly, nobody on my street has had their generator stolen, but I don't want to risk it. I was just wondering what some of you did to secure your generator. Did you use a chain or a cable? What kind of lock did you use.

[HurriCat]

Check out Home Depot, Lowe's etc. In the hardware department, you can find chain on rolls, sold by the foot - especially some really beefy hardened-link stuff. Use a piece of cord or rope to measure for your needs, then get a bit longer, just in case. This gives you freedom to chain-up in multiple places if you need to relocate the unit. Spend the money to get a high-strength padlock - one that is case-hardened and carrying the extra security information on the packaging. You can chain around a secure object or post. Make sure that the entire arrangement cannot be defeated without a lot of work and noise. Avoid using anchors that you bolt or screw into wood, as these are a weak-point and can be more easily cut away or pried out with a strong metal bar. Try to fasten the chain and lock in a way so that it would be hard to use a crowbar or something to pry against the lock with. also, try to keep the lock's keyhole pointed in a way so that someone couldn't easily position it to use picks and such. Do not use the powdered graphite in the lock! A locksmith I know says that graphite is terrible and eventually clogs up the mechanism. Keep the chain and lock wiped down with something like WD40 or other protector/lubricant. Your best overall strategy is to keep the generator from being a quick easy score for a badguy. Make it a hard, noisy task to accomplish.

[DanKellFla]

Thanks HurriCat. I have already been to Home Deport. I was just wondering what you and others ended up using?

[Alladin]

I have a 50 foot, high security 1/2" stainless steel chain. I use two Abus 90/50 stainless steel high security padlocks (with protected shackles) to secure the chain to the generator and the other end of the chain is secured to an immoveable object in my garage. Bolt cutters will not defeat this setup nor can the locks be picked or manipulated. The entire arrangement is weatherproof.

[Jagno]

The guy I loaned my generator to posted a sign in front of the generator that read, "Pi$$ed off & armed insomniac! Want to test me?"

[Nyceane]

if its inside, then its NEMA 1 enclosure

if its outside, ask for a 4x enclosure, it will be protected even if firefighters is using the water

3R can protect u from the normal rain

Peter Ma

[wxman57]

Check out Home Depot, Lowe's etc. In the hardware department, you can find chain on rolls, sold by the foot - especially some really beefy hardened-link stuff. Use a piece of cord or rope to measure for your needs, then get a bit longer, just in case. This gives you freedom to chain-up in multiple places if you need to relocate the unit. Spend the money to get a high-strength padlock - one that is case-hardened and carrying the extra security information on the packaging. You can chain around a secure object or post. Make sure that the entire arrangement cannot be defeated without a lot of work and noise. Avoid using anchors that you bolt or screw into wood, as these are a weak-point and can be more easily cut away or pried out with a strong metal bar. Try to fasten the chain and lock in a way so that it would be hard to use a crowbar or something to pry against the lock with. also, try to keep the lock's keyhole pointed in a way so that someone couldn't easily position it to use picks and such. Do not use the powdered graphite in the lock! A locksmith I know says that graphite is terrible and eventually clogs up the mechanism. Keep the chain and lock wiped down with something like WD40 or other protector/lubricant. Your best overall strategy is to keep the generator from being a quick easy score for a badguy. Make it a hard, noisy task to accomplish.

The weakest "link" will likely be the part of the generator you run the chain through. Unless your generator has some kind of special locking plate/mechanism, then you're probably wasting your money on a case-hardened lock & heavy duty chain. A simple hacksaw can cut through the generator's frame/handle like butter, leaving the chain and heavy-duty lock untouched.

[mobal]

We actually had someone steal a neighbor’s lawn mower and push it to another neighbor’s house to "replace" the noise that the generator (which they stole) was making one night.

What I have done for securing outside: Dug a hole near fence line where I run the Generator. Filled hole with concrete. There is a large hardened eye bolt sticking out of concrete that I chain the generator to. The concrete is below the sod, so that the only thing sticking out is the eye bolt. Keep it close to a fence line or in flower bed so that you won’t run over it with a lawn mower.

[pontalba]

We have a concrete slab that our dog houses sit on during normal times. When we need to use the generator, we have some eye bolts to strap it down with chains/cables. Currently, our generator is sitting in our garage waiting for my dad to put the natural gas conversion kit on it. We didn't want to stick it in the backyard near the natural gas line hookup until it was ready... My husband got tired of having to wake up in the middle of the night to add gasoline to the old generator after Rita.... Now our generator will run the whole house and the natural gas conversion fixes the problem of adding gasoline in the middle of the night.

[Dionne]

We use signs. Three of them. One at our business location, our primary home and our Hattiesburg property.

"LOOTERS WILL BE SHOT"