MicroPilot
Veteran Member
What are you going to use for the electrical gear to hook the power from the genny into your house?
got my pto-generator today.
- Thread starter Soundguy
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kensfarm
Veteran Member
"I'm buying the correct power plug today so i can hook up my well if power goes out again. Well, and fridge are my main concerns. I can do without hot water an a/c."
I've been looking at PTO generator too.. couldn't you almost run your whole house on that size of generator?
When I had my electric meter moved.. I wanted a setup to connect a generator.. the electrician put in a 200amp fuse box between the meter and the house's breaker box.. and said it could be switched out w/ a transfer switch.
The younger electrician said (for a temp solution) you could turn off the house's main 200amp switch.. and then run the generator's power through the dryer's plug into the house.
Sorry to hear about the damage.. Ivan is on it's way.. let us know how it works.. take care & be safe!!
Edited: The news this morning: Grenada flattened, 15 die.. Florida Keys already ordered to be evacuated. Good luck SoundGuy!
I've been looking at PTO generator too.. couldn't you almost run your whole house on that size of generator?
When I had my electric meter moved.. I wanted a setup to connect a generator.. the electrician put in a 200amp fuse box between the meter and the house's breaker box.. and said it could be switched out w/ a transfer switch.
The younger electrician said (for a temp solution) you could turn off the house's main 200amp switch.. and then run the generator's power through the dryer's plug into the house.
Sorry to hear about the damage.. Ivan is on it's way.. let us know how it works.. take care & be safe!!
Edited: The news this morning: Grenada flattened, 15 die.. Florida Keys already ordered to be evacuated. Good luck SoundGuy!
Dargo
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I have a 2 cyl diesel Onan generator that is rated at 12Kw. I have used a heavy (000 gauge) wire and backfed my house through my welder outlet after throwing the main breaker off. It ran everything fine until one of my A/C units tried to kick on. Oops! The 'ole generator belched a bit of black smoke and shut off.
Two things about my experience. First; be VERY careful if you use an existing heavy outlet to feed the house. Your jumper cable between the generator and house will have to be male on both ends to plug in. A live male connection is not safe. It would be very easy to get yourself fried that way. Second; make sure you turn your A/C units off. In general, you need a minimum of 25Kw to consider using them.
That having been said, I've been looking at 25Kw PTO generators. Unfortunately they seem rather spendy for me. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Good luck Soundman. Hopefully Ivan will not pay you a visit.
Two things about my experience. First; be VERY careful if you use an existing heavy outlet to feed the house. Your jumper cable between the generator and house will have to be male on both ends to plug in. A live male connection is not safe. It would be very easy to get yourself fried that way. Second; make sure you turn your A/C units off. In general, you need a minimum of 25Kw to consider using them.
That having been said, I've been looking at 25Kw PTO generators. Unfortunately they seem rather spendy for me. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Good luck Soundman. Hopefully Ivan will not pay you a visit.
tillerkiller
Silver Member
If you are going to backfeed your house for an emergency then you need to remember that if you do not disconnect your house from the utility company you can backfeed electricity back into the overhead lines. The danger of this is that a lineman will be working with a line that he thinks is not 'live' and he gets injured or worse.
For a whole bunch of reasons (easier load balancing, forgetting that the automatic sprinklers are wired into the house, the furnace comes on and loads the circuit too much, etc) it is just better to plug your load directly into your generator.
A generator disconnect switch removes the concern of backfeeding the utility. (This was pointed out already in this thread but I am saying it again here.) /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
ps... ground your generator (it shows how in the manual) and be darn careful when you mess with the generator (filling it up, plugging stuff in etc) because you are usually standing in wet mud that conducts electricity and is slick to stand on! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
For a whole bunch of reasons (easier load balancing, forgetting that the automatic sprinklers are wired into the house, the furnace comes on and loads the circuit too much, etc) it is just better to plug your load directly into your generator.
A generator disconnect switch removes the concern of backfeeding the utility. (This was pointed out already in this thread but I am saying it again here.) /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
ps... ground your generator (it shows how in the manual) and be darn careful when you mess with the generator (filling it up, plugging stuff in etc) because you are usually standing in wet mud that conducts electricity and is slick to stand on! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Two things about my experience. First; be VERY careful if you use an existing heavy outlet to feed the house. Your jumper cable between the generator and house will have to be male on both ends to plug in. A live male connection is not safe. It would be very easy to get yourself fried that way. Second; make sure you turn your A/C units off. In general, you need a minimum of 25Kw to consider using them. )</font>
I'm wondering what this does for protection of circuits? If it's powered on the back side the breakers wouldn't still operate the same in a short would they? I don't get electrical very well, help me out. John
I'm wondering what this does for protection of circuits? If it's powered on the back side the breakers wouldn't still operate the same in a short would they? I don't get electrical very well, help me out. John
L
LarryRB
Guest
Dum and dangerous. We had a guy do exactly this, he was back feeding and knocked a Mass electric co. worker off the pole!! For one, you have to pull your own meter when you back feed through a dryer plus so you don't hurt other people,, For two, how much of the house do you think you really repower? We have a on/off genset throw switch right next to the meter,, At least when I hook up my genset, I know, no one will get hurt and I'm not backfeeding through sockets such as a dryer plug..
chucko
Veteran Member
Wait please tell me why I have to pull the meter. If the main is off then both sides of my panel is dead so assuming I am not stupid and turn the main back on if I run from my 220 plug on my gen and put one hot to one side and the other hot to the other side then the house works fine. With the main off how would I feed power but up the lines and hurt a power guy. I have never had a problem doing this but I do put tape over the main and label it something like " unhook gen before removing tape incause someone comes along and tries to "help me out"
Dargo
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Not only is it dangerous if you do not have a way to disconnect from your power source, but illegal. If you electrocute a utility worker, you are liable. I would assume that in most all states a home owner is not "legally" able to send electricity through municipal power lines, for just that reason. Not only do you take a chance of going to jail, there would be a real possibility of having your generator explode when power is restored.
In the instance I mentioned earlier, I clearly mentioned it was dangerous due to the method needed to attach to the house. However, with the main breaker sitting on the shelf next to the breaker box, it would not be possible to back feed the utility lines.
Your safe choices are to snake a dozen or so heavy duty extension cords into your house to power what you need to power, or spend $1500 - $3000 or so to have your house professionally wired with a genset switch. The switch will allow you to plug your generator into the house and select what circuts you wish to power.
In the instance I mentioned earlier, I clearly mentioned it was dangerous due to the method needed to attach to the house. However, with the main breaker sitting on the shelf next to the breaker box, it would not be possible to back feed the utility lines.
Your safe choices are to snake a dozen or so heavy duty extension cords into your house to power what you need to power, or spend $1500 - $3000 or so to have your house professionally wired with a genset switch. The switch will allow you to plug your generator into the house and select what circuts you wish to power.
Wiring a transfer switch is fairly simple to do & doesn't have to cost much if you do it yourself. I did mine & I'm glad to have it. I looked at Home Depot's made in china units & decided to get mine at CED (made in USA). Cost for the switch, exterior outlet & wire were about the same. Directions for installation were pretty clear & made sense. Calculating the loads on each circuit was easy as well. I'd recommend getting it done.
mahlers
Gold Member
It's not illegal to run power back into the grid - that's what net-metering is all about, and a good number of people do it with their solar systems. You have to have the right equipment, though, and the utility company has to know all about it.
For a generator, definitely use a transfer switch. They're incredibly easy to install, and they give you the ability to balance the load across the circuits you want to power. Good ones will have a power meter on them so that you know how much power you're using so that you don't overload your generator. You should be able to install a nice setup yourself for under $500.
For a generator, definitely use a transfer switch. They're incredibly easy to install, and they give you the ability to balance the load across the circuits you want to power. Good ones will have a power meter on them so that you know how much power you're using so that you don't overload your generator. You should be able to install a nice setup yourself for under $500.
