Generator hook up

   / Generator hook up #1  

Tdog

Platinum Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2001
Messages
936
Location
SE Louisiana
Tractor
BX22
I went from almost no generator experience to living off one since Katrina. Still no sign of power on my road.

My neighbor's brother from Florida gave us this idea for hooking up generators - - if you have an electric dryer. 1st throw the master switch off, and all the circuit breakers too. Then get a dryer cord & splice it onto an appropriate length of 10-3 indoor-outdoor wire. The other end of the 10-3 wire plugs into the 120/240 v - 30amp outlet on the generator. Plug the dryer cord into its outlet. Start the generator, turn on the electric dryer circuit breaker. That will back-feed power to the box - - then flip on whatever circuits you want. You have to play musical chairs with the different circuits to make sure you don't exceed the capacity of your generator.

I have a 8500/5500 watt unit that will handle my refrig-freezer, my well [thank goodness] & a few fans & lights. If I want hot water, I turn off most everything else & run the hot water heater for ~~15 min. & that is plenty enough for a couple of showers.

I lost the contents of my freezer & the 2-3 days after the storm before I found a generator & got it connected, so I'm not running it anymore.

Hope this makes sense to you - - works for me.

My neighbor bought a 10000 btu room AC & put it in his bedroom. He runs that at night. Not really an option for us, since portions of our ceilings have collapsed & we'd be air conditioning the attic.

At least our place is still habitable.

The good news is my electric bill should be minimal for September. The flip side of that is that I spent $140 putting gasoline in gas cans this morning. Should last a while.

Cheers,

Jack
 
   / Generator hook up #2  
Once things settle down a little bit make sure that you are not backfeeding excess power out to the grid.

If you are, you could very easily electrocute a utility company linesman who is trying to repair your power lines somewhere down the road. We had a big ice storm in our area about a half dozen years ago and we were out of power for 7 days, there were constant reports of injured linesmen from generators. Finally the power company sent people out to make people shut down their generators unless they could prove that they had the proper disconnects.
 
   / Generator hook up #3  
I've actually done the same thing but plugged my generator into a 50 amp welder outlet in my barn. All breakers are off in my barn except that welder and it's main. The barn's main feeds into the main at my house. The "main" main at the house is thrown off and I have a listing of which circuits to flip on after the generator is running.

I'm told that this won't work. It's always worked fine for me. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif My pool house has it's own 200 amp circuit that is separate, and I leave a couple of outside lights turned to the "on" position there. That is my signal as to when power is restored.

Apparently the electricians here go bonkers when they hear this, but I've never had a problem. It's a temporary setup, but my power outages are generally from a few hours to a day or two. I consider that temporary.
 
   / Generator hook up #4  
Brent, you can still backfeed out to the utility that way. When we had our first major multi-day outage I jury-rigged a rented generator to my AC circuit in a similar manner. It does work. It is not the right way. Somehow, and I don't know how, the electricity can backfeed out the power lines, I think through your neutral wire? I sell candy to kids so I don't claim to know too much about Ben Franklin's invention of electricity. But I sure am glad Al Gore invented to the internet so we can talk about the Mr Frankiln's invention!

Just to be safe, and so that nobody is unintenionally hurt, you might want to have an electrician throw in a "generator transfer switch" to isolate your home.
 
   / Generator hook up #5  
Ah, I knew you'd get me. Since after doing payroll I had $5 left over, I do have my contractor coming over to set up things the right way. I'm getting an estimate to add onto my barn again too. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif Anyway, he said something to the tune of me knowing just enough about electricity to be dangerous... /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
   / Generator hook up #6  
Glad you have found something to work in your emergency.

When we had that big blackout up here a couple years ago I had my electrician buddy wire me in a couple 220 outlets off my electrical panels for my house and my business to backfeed exactly as you said. I've got the double male ended cord, too /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
I had no idea (and apparently he didn't either) that power can still get to the pole from the neutral line with the mains thrown. This merits some thought.

Of course, since taking the necessary precautions in case of another major power outage, I don't think its gone out for more than a 15 minute stretch...
 
   / Generator hook up #7  
Can't you just use one of those large, high amp "either/or " switches instead?

Thanks for the tip about the neutral leg, I would not have thought it could backfeed thru the neutral...............
 
   / Generator hook up
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Geez, the 1st thing I said was you turn off the master switch. I know about protecting the linemen.

Cheers,

Jack
 
   / Generator hook up
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Donno about a feed over the neutral - - If the master switch on the main panel doesn't eliminate the back feed, then the downed power lines to my power pole will. I'll keep my eyes & ears out for utility vehicles on my road & drive. So far, no one has come within a mile of my house.

Thanks,

j
 
   / Generator hook up #10  
Jack,

"Turning off the master switch" apparently doesn't isolate the house from back feeding the line through the neutral. I know because I did what you did when I was in an emergency situation. That's why I suggested that when things settle down that you take care of isolating the system from backfeeding.
 

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