Fairfax County, VA Noise from Specific Sources: Generator Noise (2026)

The exemption has separate branches that work differently. The first, subsection (g)(1), covers the operation of backup generators during power outages resulting from storms and other emergencies. It carries no hour limits and no duration cap, so a generator running through the night during an outage does not violate the county's noise rules. The second branch, subsection (g)(2), covers routine testing and maintenance, and it is conditional in both timing and length. , and it may not run for more than two consecutive or non-consecutive hours in any one day.

The phrase non-consecutive is the detail owners miss: the cap aggregates across the whole day, so a test in the morning and another in the evening draw down the same daily allowance and together cannot exceed two hours. falls outside the exemption entirely, no matter how brief. Testing that runs past the daily cap, or at night, loses the exemption and becomes an ordinary noise violation, which exposes the owner to the ordinance's criminal and civil penalties.