OT -Home generator question

Re: OT -Home generator question

Dick Coers

I'm concerned he's powering half his home with a 14 gauge drop cord. Sure hope it's not the half with the furnace and refrigerator.

Re: OT -Home generator question

Jack Guzman from Maine

Tell your son to invest in a transfer switch. He can get one fairly cheap at a home center. That male plug coming out of the generator is scary. What he wants to do should work but it is not a good way to do it. I use a 3500 watt honda with a transfer switch . We lose power frequently where I live.---Jack

Re: OT -Home generator question

concerned

There are multiple things wrong:

1) A cord with two plugs is called a suicide cord. Too much can go wrong.

2) Connecting a generator this way: if someone flips the main switch while the generator is running, you can kill a line man working on the pole outside of your house. Easy to say nobody will do this, stuff happens.

3) 3000W at 110V can generate about 30A. A 14Ga wire is supposed to get 15A. 12ga is 20A. You would need 10ga.

4) as to feeding into the other leg of the house: if you have a 220V user somewhere, this could be a problem. Or it could be a problem if you are NOT feeding both branches...

Please look up how to connect a generator correctly or ask an electrician.

+

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

a 3,000 watt unit is much too little to power a whole house; keep a few lights on and the frig running, sure, but the risk of over-drawing the unit and blowing the output diodes is very real. I had a 6,000 watt unit that got wasted when the a/c kicked on while the well pump was running

Re: +

Barry Irby

All the cautionary responses you have gotten should be heeded. This is a very dangerous situation. Much to know and I am sure I don't know all of it.

The 14 gauge wire is too small.

You need a transfer switch and probably a small transfer panel to distinguish the circuits to be powered. Back feeding through an outlet is dangerous. Trying to back feed tow circuits is doubly dangerous. Imagine what happens when some 220 device kicks in. An electric water heater could overload the generator.

Get an electrician to properly set this up. Don't burn the house down and electrocute people.

No

John K Jordan

There is no way I'd power the way he's doing it now OR the way he would "like" to. If you want to keep him (and any grandkids) perhaps you can educate him. Better yet, encourage him to hire an electrician and do it right. Or simply have him call the power company and tell them what he plans. (!!)

When I had a little 3500w generator at my last house used it to power a separate isolated 110v receptacle central to the main living areas. When needed, I plugged in a lamp and the fridge.

Odd, but when we lived in the city the power went out a lot and I put that generator to use. On this farm in the country the power is far more reliable and I haven't even needed the generator.

JKJ

Re: OT -Home generator question

Rum

Worse the generator can/will still feed back on the neutral line even if no one flips the mains switch. So the neutral is live and can potentially kill someone (line man) working on the mains problem.

A proper transfer switch that switches both hots and the neutral is the proper way to do this. Grounding is mildly complicated to get right in this setup as well so a decent electrician should be able to help do that all correctly.

I would also perhaps advocate having a sub panel installed for the "things that need to be on the generator" and put the transfer switch between that and the main panel for the reasons mentioned about unexpected load from things like the furnace and friends for that size of generator.

Re: OT -Home generator question

John in NM

A fella who understood phases could probalby make it work, but its a very bad idea. A sufficiently sized, 220 generator and proper transfer switch are the right way to do it.

The method he's using works after a fashion, but it is the sort of thing best left as a one time, emergency, last resort work around. Regular application of something like this leads to complacency, and since there are precisely zero safety mechanisms in place, complacency will lead to a serious accident.

Home Generation Note

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

Having spoken to more than a few line crews in my area while they were restoring power to my neighborhood, I can pass along that they appear to be equipped to deal with dead-brained back feeders using home generators. Being aware of the danger, they crack a smile to me and relate how they're pleased to return the energy leaked to the source with their equipment, resulting in blowout out both the offending generator as well as anything connected to it in the house.

one more thing ...

Ian Neuhaus

Apart from the very obvious problem of using two male plugs with a generator, and the slightly less obvious problem of using too small a wire gauge, I hope your son has located the generator outside his garage.

Carbon Monoxide (CO) poisoning is an all too real a possibility.

Locate the generator inside the garage, close the garage door and the whole family could be dead before morning.

Re: one more thing ...

Barry Irby

Carbon monoxide is a very real threat. I failed to mention it and Ian is correct. People die from it in every major power failure. In some cases the generator was not even in the garage, but just outside the door.

Also, even the most thorough person fails to execute the plan in the exact right order every time and they end up starting the generator before setting all the breakers "correctly".