The Equipment Restart After a Planned Power Shutoff SOP

Purpose

A planned utility shutoff, such as a public safety power shutoff ahead of wildfire weather, ends with every house on the circuit coming back at once. Most equipment restarts on its own and some does not: a well pump that lost its prime runs dry, a heat pump started cold without its crankcase heater slugs oil, a generator still connected meets utility voltage, and a refrigerator that warmed for a day keeps serving food it should not. This procedure makes the shop's restart visits and calls come out the same whoever runs them: generator off the house first, power confirmed good before loads, the equipment that can fail without anyone noticing checked by name, and a call log that shows who was reached and what they were told.

Scope

Covers residential customers on the shop's maintenance plans and anyone who calls in after a planned shutoff ends: HVAC, heat pumps, water heaters, well and sump pumps, refrigeration appliances, and the return of a house from generator to utility power through a transfer switch or interlock.

Does not cover:

• Houses with physical damage from the event that prompted the shutoff (wind, fire, smoke): that is The Post-Event Equipment Inspection SOP.
• Preparing the house before the shutoff, owned by How to Prepare a House for a Utility Power Shutoff.
• Medical equipment. The shop does not restart, test or advise on oxygen concentrators, ventilators, home dialysis or powered beds; step 1 routes them to the device supplier.
• A generator connected by a cord into a receptacle, which is a backfeed hazard and is handled as in The Dryer-Cord Generator the Tech Unplugged.

Roles and responsibilities

Procedure

1. Work the call list in priority order, starting before power returns. Order: customers the shop knows rely on powered medical equipment, then houses on wells, then houses with sumps in wet ground, then heat pumps in freezing weather, then everyone else. For each call, the office asks three things and logs them: is anyone in the house on powered medical equipment, and is it running; is a generator connected, and how; is anything not running now that power is back. Acceptance: every customer on the list called, with answers or "no answer, voicemail left" and a time. Wrong looks like a person on oxygen whose concentrator stopped and whose backup cylinder is low. Stop rule: that call ends with the customer told to call their device supplier now, and 911 if the person is in distress or the backup will run out before the supplier can respond; the office logs it and calls back within an hour. Hazard: none for the office; the instruction is the customer's protection.

2. Return the house from generator to utility before anything else. On arrival, ask how the house was powered and look. With a transfer switch or a listed interlock and inlet, follow the equipment's own sequence: generator breaker off, then the main or transfer handle to utility, then shut the generator down and let it cool. Acceptance: generator breaker off, main on, generator engine stopped, cord unplugged from the inlet. Wrong looks like a generator plugged into a receptacle with a double-male cord, or a main left closed with the generator still feeding. Stop rule: a cord backfeed is not touched at either plug; switch off the generator's output and stop its engine first, then unplug at the generator, then at the house, and log it. Hazard: carbon monoxide from a running generator near a door or window; check a personal CO monitor on the way in, and keep the generator where it sits only if it is at least 20 ft from the house with exhaust pointing away.

3. Confirm the power is good before loading it. Wait at least 15 minutes after restoration, because circuits re-energized after a shutoff can drop again while the utility patrols. Then read voltage at a 120 V receptacle on each side of the panel. Acceptance: 114 to 126 V on each reading, ANSI C84.1 Range A for a 120 V nominal service, and the two readings within a few volts of each other. Wrong looks like one side low and the other high, or lights brightening as a large load starts, both signs of a lost neutral. Stop rule: any reading outside Range A, or the two sides far apart, means main off, the utility called, and the shop electrician scheduled; nothing else restarts. Hazard: read at receptacles with a meter rated for the circuit; nobody but the shop's qualified electrician opens the panel cover.

4. Restart the well pump and watch the pressure build. With the main on and all faucets closed, turn the well pump breaker on and watch the pressure tank gauge. Acceptance: pressure rises steadily to the switch's cut-out setting stamped on its cover (for example 50 psi on a 30/50 switch) and the pump stops on its own. Wrong looks like the pump running with pressure not rising, or rising and stalling well short of cut-out. Stop rule: if pressure has not climbed past cut-in within 2 minutes, the breaker goes off, because a pump running dry damages its seals and impeller within minutes; a jet pump may need priming to its manufacturer's procedure, a submersible goes to the well contractor. Hazard: the pressure switch cover has line-voltage terminals beneath it; read the gauge and run the breaker, and do not open the switch cover with the circuit live.

5. Prove the sump can run. Pour water into the pit until the float lifts. Acceptance: the pump starts, lowers the water, stops, and the discharge runs out to daylight; a battery backup unit shows charging. Wrong looks like a pump that hums without moving water, a float held by debris, or water coming back down the discharge. Stop rule: a sump that will not pump in a wet season gets a temporary pump and a same-day repair booking, and the customer is told before the tech leaves. Hazard: the pump is on a GFCI-protected receptacle; keep one hand on the water container and the other off the cord and the pit.

6. Restart heating and cooling, compressor last. For a heat pump or air conditioner in weather below about 50 F, check the manufacturer's instructions for a crankcase heater warm-up after an extended outage; where it calls for one, the outdoor disconnect goes on with the thermostat off for the stated period, often several hours, before any call for compression. For a gas furnace or boiler, call for heat and watch the full ignition sequence. This is the step where energy and fuel go back in: close any disconnect standing to the side with your face turned away, and wear a personal CO monitor at a fuel-burning appliance. Acceptance: ignition on the first trial, draft established at the hood or inducer proving within the first minute, no rise in ambient CO above background, and running current under nameplate on any motor or compressor you clamp with the panel already closed. Wrong looks like repeated lockouts, a tripping breaker, or a compressor that hums and does not start. Stop rule: two failed starts, shut it down and diagnose as a service call; do not keep resetting.

7. Check refrigeration temperatures and say what the guidance says. With an appliance thermometer, read the refrigerator and freezer. Acceptance: both appliances running, with the refrigerator falling toward 40 F or below and the freezer toward 0 F. Tell the customer the USDA and FDA guidance as guidance: perishable refrigerated food held above 40 F for more than 2 hours should be discarded, and a full freezer kept closed holds temperature about 48 hours, half full about 24. Wrong looks like an appliance not running or not cooling after 30 minutes. Stop rule: a refrigerator that does not cool is a service call; the tech does not judge what food is safe beyond quoting the guidance. Hazard: none at this step beyond the ordinary; it is a reading and a conversation.

8. Close the visit and log it. Note on the ticket each system's final state and any stop rule taken, and tell the customer what was not restored and why. Acceptance: the ticket and the office call log agree. Hazard: none, paperwork.

The record this produces

Two linked records. The office call log: customer, call time, the three answers from step 1, who was told what, and any callback. The visit ticket: generator state on arrival and how it was returned, the two receptacle voltages, the well's cut-out pressure and time to reach it, the sump result, the HVAC start readings, the refrigeration temperatures and the guidance given. The service manager reads both the next morning to book follow-ups; after the next shutoff, the call log is the list.

Worked pass

A rural customer on a well, after a 30 hour planned shutoff. Step 1 call: no medical equipment, generator through an interlock, "water is weak". Visit booked second in the queue.

• Step 2: generator breaker off, main on, generator stopped 25 ft from the house, cord unplugged. Personal CO monitor at background. Pass.
• Step 3: power restored 40 minutes before arrival. Receptacles read 121 V and 119 V. Both inside 114 to 126 V and 2 V apart. Pass.
• Step 4: FAILS. Jet pump on, pressure started at 8 psi and was still at 8 psi after 2 minutes against a 30/50 switch. Breaker off at 2 minutes. The suction line had drained back through a worn foot valve during the outage. The tech primed the pump to its manufacturer's procedure, restarted, and pressure rose to 50 psi in 3 minutes and the pump stopped; a foot valve replacement was booked because it will lose prime again.
• Step 5: no sump. Not applicable, logged as such.
• Step 6: air temperature 61 F, so no crankcase warm-up requirement in the manufacturer's instructions applied. Gas furnace lit on the first trial, inducer proved inside 20 seconds, ambient CO at background. Pass.
• Step 7: refrigerator read 46 F, freezer 14 F, both running. The customer was told the 40 F, 2 hour guidance and the 48 hour freezer figure for a full, closed freezer; she decided what to keep.
• Step 8: ticket and call log matched; foot valve follow-up booked.

The weak water on the call was the clue to put this house second; had it gone to the end of the queue, the pump would have been cycled by the customer repeatedly before anyone arrived.

References

• ANSI C84.1, Electric Power Systems and Equipment - Voltage Ratings, Range A service voltage.
• USDA and FDA food safety guidance for refrigerated and frozen food during power outages.
• CDC guidance on preventing carbon monoxide poisoning from portable generators.
• See related: How to Prepare a House for a Utility Power Shutoff; Generators, Backfeed and the Lineworker; The Post-Event Equipment Inspection SOP; The Dryer-Cord Generator the Tech Unplugged.