You planned the trip. Someone watched the house—or maybe nobody did. Either way, late June is when storm season on the northern plains starts to feel real again, and your standby generator may have sat through weeks of heat, humidity, and automatic exercise cycles you were not around to hear.
Prairie Power - Generator Solutions, a division of Kieley Electric, sees this pattern every summer: a family returns from travel, the forecast turns green, and the first question is whether the backup system is still ready. This guide walks through a sensible handoff so you are not guessing on the first outage night.
First walkaround after you are home
Start outside at the generator enclosure. Confirm ventilation openings are clear of grass clippings, mulch, and anything stacked during your absence. Check that manufacturer-recommended clearances still exist after landscaping or storage changes.
Look for obvious damage to conduit, fuel piping, or the pad. If a house sitter noted anything unusual—a new alarm code, a failed exercise, a propane delivery—write it down before you forget the details.
Run an exercise the right way
Follow your owner manual for a manual exercise. On most residential standby units, utility power stays on during the test so the automatic transfer switch does not move the house to generator. Listen for smooth starting, stable running, and normal shutdown.
Note the run hours on the display or controller. Compare them to where you left off before travel. If hours did not advance during scheduled exercises while you were away, that is worth a service call before the next storm front.
If someone watched the house, align on what they saw
House sitters are not electricians, and they should not open energized equipment. But they can tell you whether utility power bounced, whether they heard the unit exercise, and whether any alarms appeared on the controller.
Give them a simple written sheet before your next trip: where to read run hours, who to call for service (701-935-3617), and which breakers or switches must stay untouched. Clear notes prevent guesswork when you are out of town and storms stack on the calendar.
Fuel checks after an empty house
For propane, confirm tank level with a fresh gauge reading—not a memory from the week you packed. Vacation weeks still include automatic exercise fuel use, and late-June grill nights add draw on the same tank.
For natural gas, look for obvious damage to exposed piping. Treat any sulfur or rotten-egg odor as urgent and call your utility or us immediately.
Transfer switch behavior
The automatic transfer switch is what isolates your home from the grid during an outage. You can visually inspect for damage or pest activity, but do not open energized gear.
If the unit hesitated, buzzed, or failed to transfer during an exercise while you were gone, schedule licensed service now. Waiting until utility power is already out turns a maintenance item into an emergency.
New loads since you left
Did you add an EV charger, pool equipment, or circuits in a garage or shop project while you were traveling—or since the last storm season? Tell your service provider what changed. Load calculations and transfer sizing were set at installation; meaningful new loads deserve a professional review.
When to book professional maintenance
If you are due on Essential Annual, Preferred Semi-Annual, or Premier Uptime, book before the busiest summer weeks. Details for each tier are on our service plans page.
If anything felt borderline during your return walkthrough—slow cranking, stale alarms, low propane margin—contact us for residential repair or a scheduled visit rather than forcing repeated failed starts.
Your next step
Return from travel is a natural reset point. Walk the unit, confirm fuel, review exercise logs, and call if something changed. When you want a licensed technician to verify transfer switch behavior end to end, request a free estimate or schedule service through contact. We serve North Dakota and Minnesota with the same standards we apply on every Generac standby installation.