Bonded or Floating Neutral for generator?

[BX23S-1]

I posted this video on your other thread, but i see you started another thread.
This thread too, will likely go off the rails due to different opinions and places that do things differently with how individuals install and/or use, their own generators.
Some info is good, some isn`t. Some gen`s are installed right, some are not. Its up to you to speak with your local electricians to make sure YOU are doing it right, in your area.

This video should help answer some questions about Bonded vs Unbonded.
Usually you see this with portable generators, where most aren`t connected to a transfer switch.

 

[stumblinhorse]

I posted this video on your other thread, but i see you started another thread.
This thread too, will likely go off the rails due to different opinions and places that do things differently with how individuals install and/or use, their own generators.
Some info is good, some isn`t. Some gen`s are installed right, some are not. Its up to you to speak with your local electricians to make sure YOU are doing it right, in your area.

This video should help answer some questions about Bonded vs Unbonded.
Usually you see this with portable generators, where most aren`t connected to a transfer switch.

Pretty much no such thing here as a local electrician, local anything really. I do everything myself or wait weeks or months to get a call back. Doesn’t matter what it is, plumping, heating, electrical. I am doing the work myself.

 

[BX23S-1]

Pretty much no such thing here as a local electrician, local anything really. I do everything myself or wait weeks or months to get a call back. Doesn’t matter what it is, plumping, heating, electrical. I am doing the work myself.

Well that`s a tough situation to be in. I guess your best bet is to watch a bunch videos, ask questions, then determine what best works for you.

 

[npalen]

So if I'm using a portable inverter out in the field to power a 120VAC saw, for example, with no ground rod, should I bond neutral and ground?

 

[BX23S-1]

So if I'm using a portable inverter out in the field to power a 120VAC saw, for example, with no ground rod, should I bond neutral and ground?

I had to re-read what you wrote. I`m not familiar with those. I am only familiar with gas open frame generators.
What i do know is, is that you want an open frame generator to be set up UNBONDED NEUTRAL if powering up a home.

 

[stumblinhorse]

So if I'm using a portable inverter out in the field to power a 120VAC saw, for example, with no ground rod, should I bond neutral and ground?

That is the purpose of a bonded neutral and ground. To make a standalone unit safe in the field. Floating would only be used in a situation when there is another source of ground and neutral like a structure. But as I said before I don’t get paid to do electrical work.

 

[BX23S-1]

That is the purpose of a bonded neutral and ground. To make a standalone unit safe in the field. Floating would only be used in a situation when there is another source of ground and neutral like a structure. But as I said before I don’t get paid to do electrical work.

Well you seem to be understanding something, here. Which brings me to the point of what people have been trying to tell you all along.

Field = Bonded (no ground stake needed)
Home = Unbonded (ground stake needed for open frame generator, unless you have a transfer switch, which takes care of it)

 

[stumblinhorse]

Well you seem to be understanding something, here. Which brings me to the point of what people have been trying to tell you all along.

Field = Bonded (no ground stake needed)
Home = Unbonded (ground stake needed for the generator)

Lol, but at home the generator is plugged into a receptacle that is attached to a ground at the main box.

 

[BX23S-1]

Lol, but at home the generator is plugged into a receptacle that is attached to a ground at the main box.

Ugggggggh, a suicide cord i`m guessing.
Ya know, its not as hard as you think, to do it the right way.

 

[CobyRupert]

Ground and neutral should only be bonded at one point in a system.
So if they’re bonded in your house panel (or an equivalent first disconnect location from the utility):
….don’t bond them at the generator.
….unless your transfer switch switches the neutral leg too; thus disconnecting the normal neutral- ground bond when in generator mode. (Most transfers switch don’t switch the neutral.)

Whether you need a grounding rod at the generator is somewhat unrelated to whether its neutral and ground are bonded. That is related to whether the generator is portable.