Generac Running, But No Power in House

[ponytug]

Thank you for the advice, and I can follow that procedure if this happens again during another power outage.

I'm don't know how to access the transfer coils to check the wiring, but that's outside of my comfort zone. I'll get someone who (hopefully) knows what he's doing to check it out.

FWIW, I have a second electric meter and transfer switch in my barn. I didn't check that switch, but I also didn't have power in the barn during the outage. We also had a lightning storm recently that didn't hit our house, but it still managed to destroy several electronic devices, including a laptop computer, two ethernet switches, and a network camera. My wife happened to be in the basement at the time (which is where the laptop was located), and she said it sounded like a loud metallic snap. The laptop was noticeably hot and showed no signs of life. I don't know whether this could have also destroyed something related to the transfer switches.

You don't list where you are, but many places have lightning, and worth taking some precautions in today's world of electronics.

If you had enough of a surge to fry some of your electronics, it is certainly possible that the automatic transfer switch circuitry died. Was the laptop wired via a power adapter or via an Ethernet cable or neither at the time it fried?

For the future, you might want to consider a whole house surge protection system. (Plus another one in the barn panel.) I would also recommend putting Ethernet surge protectors at both ends of the Ethernet cable out to your barn, or any other long run of Ethernet on the property. (It happens to be a code requirement, but often overlooked, and a good idea regardless.) A small break in in the shielding of an Ethernet cable isn't going to make much of a difference, but the change in ground potential between the barn and the house would most definitely do it.

All the best,

Peter

 

[drssg]

If you have extended warranty, the controller would still be covered. But standard warranty only covers parts for 2 years. I think i had this conversation confused with another one dealing with 10 month old unit.

I don't have an extended warranty. I figure that I can expect to pay more for the warranty than I would have paid for repairs; otherwise, they wouldn't sell the warranties.

Sometimes that comes back to bite me, but life happens.

 

[newbury]

<snip>For the future, you might want to consider a whole house surge protection system. (Plus another one in the barn panel.) <snip>

Peter

And if you have not checked into it a good whole house surge protection system might only cost you $100 or less.
In my ~2,000 sq ft house in Mississippi we were suffering things like fried circuitry in the dishwasher and the frig.
Power is urine poor.
I thought it was going to cost about a grand to put in a whole house surge protection system but our son (who's an a/c technician) told me no and put in one for about $80, and the process can be fairly quick and simple.
Here's a youtube and the guy installs one in 6 minutes.

/edit - note I am not advocating you "do it yourself" unless you are qualified.

 

[grsthegreat]

i have a Siemens FS140 ( 140,000 volt) surge on house and 1 on shop. nice, but sure as heck wont prevent damage from direct strike. were talking millions of volts

 

[drssg]

You don't list where you are, but many places have lightning, and worth taking some precautions in today's world of electronics.

If you had enough of a surge to fry some of your electronics, it is certainly possible that the automatic transfer switch circuitry died. Was the laptop wired via a power adapter or via an Ethernet cable or neither at the time it fried?

For the future, you might want to consider a whole house surge protection system. (Plus another one in the barn panel.) I would also recommend putting Ethernet surge protectors at both ends of the Ethernet cable out to your barn, or any other long run of Ethernet on the property. (It happens to be a code requirement, but often overlooked, and a good idea regardless.) A small break in in the shielding of an Ethernet cable isn't going to make much of a difference, but the change in ground potential between the barn and the house would most definitely do it.

All the best,

Peter

Lot's of good stuff. Thank you!

The laptop was connected to a power adapter, which was connected to a UPS, which is supposed to have surge protection, although I couldn't find a joule rating for it. It was also connected via an ethernet cable to one of the two network switches that got fried. That network switch was also plugged into the same UPS.

I will look into getting a whole house surge protector for the house and barn. The local business that services Generac equipment is also a general electrician shop, so perhaps they will have some suggestions.

I live in Ohio. I had never heard of an ethernet surge protector or code related to ethernet lines. I did all the ethernet wiring in the house and barn, so that's on me. Do you have any suggestions on brands or types of ethernet surge protectors?

I see that some of them have what I'm guessing is a grounding line and are slightly more expensive.

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Some are just an in-line plug-in and are quite inexpensive.

RJ-45 Lightning Arrester Adapter Ethernet Surge Protector Network Protect hm | eBay

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[drssg]

And if you have not checked into it a good whole house surge protection system might only cost you $100 or less.
In my ~2,000 sq ft house in Mississippi we were suffering things like fried circuitry in the dishwasher and the frig.
Power is urine poor.
I thought it was going to cost about a grand to put in a whole house surge protection system but our son (who's an a/c technician) told me no and put in one for about $80, and the process can be fairly quick and simple.
Here's a youtube and the guy installs one in 6 minutes.

/edit - note I am not advocating you "do it yourself" unless you are qualified.

That is interesting and beyond my "do it yourself" qualifications. It's good to have some idea of what is involved. I envisioned it to be a bigger project.

 

[newbury]

That is interesting and beyond my "do it yourself" qualifications. It's good to have some idea of what is involved. I envisioned it to be a bigger project.

Well "do it yourself" capabilities and legalities are two different things. Some places it's getting so I can't do anything without county inspections. And I've read some places require an electrician licensed in the locality to do almost anything.
When I was from 12 to 14 my Grandfather (a master carpenter), my Father (a tool and die engineer at IBM) and I (grunt labor) built a moderately large duplex on 30 acres in Vermont.
We had someone dig the basement, but from there to the top of the 2nd story roof it was all us. Carpentry, plumbing, electric.
On the electrical work my Dad always performed the ALFSAF test (Always Look For Smoke And Fire) before he considered the work done.
So I usually hire out even minor electrical work on insured buildings.

 

[drssg]

Well "do it yourself" capabilities and legalities are two different things. Some places it's getting so I can't do anything without county inspections. And I've read some places require an electrician licensed in the locality to do almost anything.
When I was from 12 to 14 my Grandfather (a master carpenter), my Father (a tool and die engineer at IBM) and I (grunt labor) built a moderately large duplex on 30 acres in Vermont.
We had someone dig the basement, but from there to the top of the 2nd story roof it was all us. Carpentry, plumbing, electric.
On the electrical work my Dad always performed the ALFSAF test (Always Look For Smoke And Fire) before he considered the work done.
So I hire even minor electrical work on insured buildings.

Those sound like nice memories. My father was a college professor. He was a smart guy, but not particularly mechanically inclined.

As far as inspection requirements, my horse barn required virtually no inspections at all. There was a VERY early electrical inspection in order to get the power turned on to the meter. The electrician just installed the circuit panel with a single power outlet next to it before scheduling the inspection. All the real work was done after the inspector left.

OTOH, our septic system gets inspected every 18 months.

 

[Torvy]

+ whole house protection. Cost us $250 a few years before the shut down. Before that we had expensive things (sprinkler and pool controllers) go out every few years. Sits in the wall directly under the main breaker box. Just a status light shows.

 

[ponytug]

Lot's of good stuff. Thank you!

The laptop was connected to a power adapter, which was connected to a UPS, which is supposed to have surge protection, although I couldn't find a joule rating for it. It was also connected via an ethernet cable to one of the two network switches that got fried. That network switch was also plugged into the same UPS.

I will look into getting a whole house surge protector for the house and barn. The local business that services Generac equipment is also a general electrician shop, so perhaps they will have some suggestions.

I live in Ohio. I had never heard of an ethernet surge protector or code related to ethernet lines. I did all the ethernet wiring in the house and barn, so that's on me. Do you have any suggestions on brands or types of ethernet surge protectors?

I see that some of them have what I'm guessing is a grounding line and are slightly more expensive.

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Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for RJ45 Plug Ethernet Network Surge Protector Thunder Arrester 100MHz Y7B1 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

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Some are just an in-line plug-in and are quite inexpensive.

RJ-45 Lightning Arrester Adapter Ethernet Surge Protector Network Protect hm | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for RJ-45 Lightning Arrester Adapter Ethernet Surge Protector Network Protect hm at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

There are lots of cheap and not so cheap ethernet surge suppressors that aren't super effective. You want one that has both gas discharge tubes, and preferably "diodes"/MOV. You want one that will attenuate both line to line (across the Ethernet signal wires) and lines to ground.
I used these;
https://www.amazon.com/Tupavco-Ethernet-Protector-Gigabit-1000Mbs/dp/B00805VUD8/
the ground wire is way too short and I ended up creating a ground bus for a couple of ethernet cables entering the house at the same point, and then a heavy ground wire back to the main electrical panel.
Downstream, I added an MOV based unit.
Like this one;

Amazon.com: Qooltek ST-NET Ethernet Surge Protector for 10/100/1000 Base-T PoE+ Gigabit Modem Thunder & Lighting Protection ST-RJ45 : Electronics

Amazon.com: Qooltek ST-NET Ethernet Surge Protector for 10/100/1000 Base-T PoE+ Gigabit Modem Thunder & Lighting Protection ST-RJ45 : Electronics

www.amazon.com

(I am amused at the "thunder" protection, but it does contain diodes for fast clamping.)

All of the units that I looked inside had thin little PCB traces to carry the lightning surge, which is pretty pathetic in my opinion, but again, these gizmos are to take the edge off a surge, not stop a nearby strike. If you have a close hit, lots of things are going to vaporize.

You can get "outdoor" versions that are helpful to put on Ethernet cameras and WiFi access points/antennas. They have varying degrees of water resistance, but I use them as well to provide voltage clamping on both ends of every ethernet cable entering or leaving the house to keep any transient voltage surge as small as possible.

Like @grsthegreat, I put in the Siemens 140; cheap insurance in my book. I do have another half a dozen outlet surge suppression strips scattered around the house. Each one of them helps attenuate surge as well. (Each is another 4,000J, supposedly.)

All the best,

Peter