How many of you own generators and what size?

George2615 · Dec 5, 2006

My generator is also a welder. Miller Bobcat 10,000 watt and will run my whole house.

BillyP · Dec 5, 2006

Here's my generator. By the way, no back feeding here

thingy · Dec 5, 2006

You guys are just afraid of big brother,if he sees your scared he'll keep scaring you,,yeah they could cut my wire,they can take their meter and transformer too,,,but, if they do that,they can take those 4 poles that cross my land too and relocate them,cause I wouldn't be forced to play the game antmores,would I? yeah,sure they got a righta way,but I got a chain saw,,,,but seriously folks,,,,it would never come to that here,,,,they apparently don't care here in southern w.va,,,maybe cause the electric never hardly goes off here,,,been here for 14 years,,very remote,most of you would say,,longest electric ever been off [so far,knock on my head],is 14 hours,,thats when a guy burned a tree down,,,and besides,,if you turn off the main breaker,no juice is going to hurt big brothers little helpers anyways,,,ain't nothing going to leak out on a ground,,what a rumor that is,,,,thingy

wushaw · Dec 5, 2006

thingy said:
While don't they start burying more electric lines,,they could leave transformers above ground on the poles,,I know it is way more expensive,[in the short term],but its not like they have just a limited amount of time to recoperate their investment,or a limited amount of time to do it in.thingy

My power line is buried just because I know I would be the last one to get power restored in the event of an ice storm or such, also I didn't want any overhead pwr lines on my property.

Pilot · Dec 5, 2006

My powerline was buried and it was cheaper than poles. If you have to dig a trench, the cost goes up , but mine was plowed in. Started work at 7:00, had to wait half an hour while th epower coo. crew talked with their uniton guys to see if they should work with the phone co. guys who were not union (and who had the plow). They had to bring power from the plole across the street (ran a little digger under the street), then plowed it 1,200 ft. to my future house. Done before noon.

When I started work as a forester with the USFS, one of my first jobs was to do an environmental assessment on a project to bring power into Star Meadows, a little community in the middle of the district, 15 miles off the highway. Power co. was going to go on poles, I asked how much more to go underground, they said $150 to bring it down from the poles, then the same per mile after that. We made them bury it. Think of the outages they would have had going thru a lodgepole forest on poles!

Shimon · Dec 5, 2006

jeffinsgf said:
One thing that surprised me in this thread is the scarcity of PTO generators being mentioned. As a device that may be used very infrequently in its life, it seems a perfect candidate for taking advantage of our tractors. Any reason that I should be looking at something other than a PTO generator? I have a 300 gallon bulk tank of diesel that makes me feel much more confident of being able to feed the beast, and my tractor is quieter than any air cooled motor I've ever been around.

I use a PTO generator and since I only use it about a dozen times a year I don't mind. Advantage is cost and one less engine to maintain and smaller size. Disadvantage is you have to hook up the tractor to it (usually in the dark in pouring rain or freezing wind or both) and if you need to use your tractor for other stuff like moving fallen trees then you loose power. I think for a standby unit, the PTO generator is a good choice.

Shimon · Dec 5, 2006

BillyP said:
I guess I don't get it but I'm no electrician either. The ground and neutral are tied together, here anyway, and any short would either throw a breaker or go to ground? The first ground would be at the meter.

Yes, the ground and neutral are connected in your main panel (should not be connected in any sub-panels).

So, when you have an electrical fault, that current wants to find its way back to the source (ground). It can go through the ground wire or through the neutral (or through you if neither of the previous two are available). If your grounding wire is compromised due to a poor or broken connection or undersized grounding conductor then the current will flow back through the neutral wire and go back to the power pole and take the quickest way back to ground.

And remember when that current goes back to the pole, it may go through a transformer before finding ground so it gets juiced up to 10,000 volts (or whatever the line voltage is) at a low current.

I feel the chances of actually shocking a lineman are slim but it is in the realm of possibility. So before you use your main breaker as a generator cut-off I would find my grounding rods and make sure they are properly connected to the main panel.

_RaT_ · Dec 5, 2006

Shimon said:
Yes, the ground and neutral are connected in your main panel (should not be connected in any sub-panels).

So, when you have an electrical fault, that current wants to find its way back to the source (ground). It can go through the ground wire or through the neutral (or through you if neither of the previous two are available). If your grounding wire is compromised due to a poor or broken connection or undersized grounding conductor then the current will flow back through the neutral wire and go back to the power pole and take the quickest way back to ground.

And remember when that current goes back to the pole, it may go through a transformer before finding ground so it gets juiced up to 10,000 volts (or whatever the line voltage is) at a low current.

I feel the chances of actually shocking a lineman are slim but it is in the realm of possibility. So before you use your main breaker as a generator cut-off I would find my grounding rods and make sure they are properly connected to the main panel.

Interesting, out here, neutral and ground are always bonded in the sub panel. When you buy a sub panel, you will see the ground screw that mentions in some locals, you must bond the neutral to the ground. On our main panels, the ground and neutral are isolated.

Shimon · Dec 5, 2006

_RaT_ said:
Interesting, out here, neutral and ground are always bonded in the sub panel. When you buy a sub panel, you will see the ground screw that mentions in some locals, you must bond the neutral to the ground. On our main panels, the ground and neutral are isolated.

Hmmm...I have to disagree on this one. There isn't a copy of the NEC online but here are some excerpts relating to grounding and bonding of sub-panels: Click Link. Also here is another link to an article about sub-panels which is more in layman terms: Click Link (scroll down to the big yellow warning boxes).

Maybe we are talking about two different things and that may be causing confusion. Also, I am not an NEC electrician...I am a marine (ABYC) electrician...but the principles and most of the codes are the same.

Dusty · Dec 5, 2006

Rat...... I believe that you have that just the opposite the way it should be, and possibly it is a memory error? In CT, the first panel after the meter is considered the main panel. Everyone after that is considered the sub panels. I have a meter on the outside of the garage wall, and a 200 amp disconnect on the other side. That disconnect is considered the main panel. Then comes the 200 amp generator disconnect, and underground to the circuit breaker panel in the cellar. That panel has the grounds and neutrals separated and the neutrals are not bonded to the panel itself. The ground wires are bonded to the panel box. I have a 4# copper wire that starts at the panel and continues unbroken, through a few ground rods and eventually ends up being bolted to the well casing. It was done with the NEC standards in mind.
Dusty