Hello, I have a desire to backup my refrigerator during power outages. Let's say I buy a generator with sufficient power to do so. A whole house transfer switch is not appropriate because the small generator is nowhere near big enough to handle the whole house. The cord on the refrigerator is very hard to get to because the refrigerator is built in. If I were to run the 12-2 line that currently runs from the outlet to the breaker box into a new box containing a SPDT switch and wire it to connect the hot wire from the outlet to either the original breaker or a heavy duty extension cord plugged into the generator, would that meet code? (By code, I mean NEC, not local variations. I don't want to ask a local inspector if the answer is going to be "no way".)
If the above is not acceptable, how about cutting the line running to the refrigerator outlet and then installing an outlet near the breaker box and a plug to connect them back together? During a power outage, I would remove the plug from the outlet and plug it into the extension cord coming from the generator. Would having a plug and outlet in the line violate code?
Here's a crude attempt at an ascii drawing (please view with a fixed width font): == is 12-2 w gnd normal house wiring. -- is the refrigerator cord plugged into the outlet behind the refrigerator.
Using plugs gets around code. I'm thinking using original breaker to outlet. Another outlet to generator. Plug from original line to fridge. These outlets would be near outside the box or another location. No switches involved.
I ran a line from the generator to a plug box mounted right under the house current box that the refrigerator plugs into. When the lights go out, I unplug from house current and into the generator box. Since your plug is hard to get to, run the line to the basement and have the side-by-side plugs. Be sure to label them.
Hi Greg, Thanks for the input. To be clear, you are saying it is OK for a line that plugs into an outlet to run into hidden spaces and power a normal outlet somewhere else in the house. Right?
If you are loosing power for long enough for a fridge to get warm then I suggest you might as well get a generator that can supply you with more power. I comfortably run my whole 3000 sqft house with the exception of major appliance such as the hvac, electric oven, and electric dryer off of a cheap 4400 watt generator. Since I only use it for power outages I don't care that it won't last for thousands of hours. You can get a used one for a few hundred dollars on craigs list, a new one for 5 or 600.
I backfeed it and there are code compliant ways to do that. All you need is a pair of breakers at the top of your main panel and a mechanical lockout for the panel main.
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open the breakers to the major appliances I don't want to run. It will run both my air handlers since I have gas heat.
On Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:29:08 -0400, snipped-for-privacy@neo.rr.com wrote:
Putting a plug on the fridge is the best way. I just went through 2 power outages a week ago due to storms. One 71 hours, the other 12 hours. Not common around here. Last outage was maybe 10 years ago, for a few hours. We had to toss out what we had in the fridge with the 71 hour outage. Maybe $50 worth of food max. Beer was still good. If we had any steak or shrimp in there we would have cooked it on the Weber and ate good. The 12 hour outage didn't even start to melt the ice cubes. Anyway, I've given this some thought. This is just my opinion, and the methods I examined for powering during an outage. I don't want a generator for infrequent outages. Cost/benefit doesn't work. If I had a boat or job site where I would use it that would be different. But not for a fridge. For running a fridge you can get an inverter to hook to your car. Some inverters will power most of your house systems from your car. My cars have alternators with about 105 amps, which is pretty typical. Just running your car every few hours to cycle the fridge will keep your food healthy. You can charge your rechargeables at the same time. If you need gas, drive to the gas station. No extra tanks, no generator maintenance and noise. A good 2000 watt inverter is about $300. Xantrex is one. For a fridge that's overkill. You can do it all cheaper to run a fridge. Small package, about 15 pounds, and you can keep it on a shelf. Then to do it right you want a permanent fused wiring setup on the car, where you can plug it in. About $50 bucks in parts. Then a HD extension cord, which you might already have. You can google all this and price it out. That's what I did. My decision was no generator and no inverter. Almost went for a battery TV, but decided my radios were good enough. Had flashlights, candles, and a couple battery radios. Only thing I'd do different is if I knew that first outage was going to be 71 hours, I'd have gone to a hotel/motel with my wife and just come home a couple times a day to tend to the dogs until the power was back. That would cost far less than a generator or inverter and be more fun. Except all the traffic lights were out, so I'm not sure about how much fun it would be. Luckily the temps were nice when the power was out. This is just me, so I'm not saying others see it different. If I was in a hot place I'd want to power some A/C for sleeping. Or drive to where there was power and sleep there. A lot depends on how often you lose power. It's worth giving it some thought before you buy stuff you won't use much.
I just went thru this exercise. I found a new generator for dirt cheap at a garage sale. I found another great deal on a DIY transfer switch that hooks between the outputs of the breaker box and the house wiring. I wish I'd been able to do the math before making the impulse purchase.
I discovered a couple of interesting things. The NEC is subject to considerable interpretation. There are at least two people you need to worry about.
1) the local electrical inspector.
2) the adjuster for your fire insurance carrier. If you bypass #1, then #2 has grounds to deny your claim when the place burns down. God help you if sparks burn down the neighbor's house.
Life is a lot easier if you assume that the place will never burn down. I've only been burned out twice in 63 years...what are the odds????
The code pretty clearly states that anything ATTACHED to the structure has to be permanently wired. I asked my local inspector if I could put a plug on the furnace so I could run the fans during a power outage. He said, "I don't see why not." When pressed, he vacillated. I think he's the only one in the office, so probably not an issue. In bigger offices, it may be a crap shoot depending on who shows up for the inspection. In your case, you could make a case for the built-in fridge not being attached in the sense anticipated by the code, but the socket in the wall is CLEARLY attached. Putting a plug on the other end of the wire might be an issue. You'll find many "projects" on the web that put regular wall switches in circuits to facilitate generator connections. As I recall, you must have switches actually rated for such service. Regular wall switches ain't! I was gonna put a combo switch/socket and back-feed just the furnace. I never found a combo SPDT switch rated at the 20-amps required by that circuit. Would never have passed inspection anyway.
When I had central air installed, I was amazed by the inspector. He didn't look at the wiring at all. All he cared about was that the breakers and switches all had the right stickers on 'em. He failed the system and made the contractor replace a breaker with one with the right sticker. So, it don't matter whether the switches can actually do the job. What matters is that they have a sticker that says they can do the job.
When I contemplated the transfer switch, I discovered that my house has 30 feet of wire between the meter base and the first breaker. This violates current code, big-time. There's some question about what changes inside the breaker box might require bringing the whole service entrance up to current code. Even if everything turned out best case, the cost of the permits/inspection was about the same as the cost of the generator. Power doesn't go out much here. And I have an unused freezer in the garage that could be pressed into service in a food emergency.
If you have room, pick up a free fridge at a garage sale and use it for emergencies on the generator...and for beer when it's not an emergency.
Anybody wanna buy a new 5KW generator and an 8-circuit self-installable transfer switch?
Personally, I would just put an extension cord on the generator and unplug the fridge from the wall and plug it into the generator. There should be enough capacity to run a fridge, a TV, a couple CFLs, and maybe an electric toothbrush ---- necessities of life.
The idea of trying to make the entire house "normal" is just too much trouble. Just pretend you are roughing it on a camping trip that will end in a few days max......
It isn't the end of the world, and it's just too much trouble to plan for it.....
Mike's opinion of the diversity of thought in building inspectors is right on. And his caution regarding insurance coverage is also good....... Just use an extension cord, of suitable rating, and one won't have to worry about such things...
The point to having the right "sticker" is that it means it's the right one and can do the job, no?
Curious as to what part of the NEC this violates? While I think most panels are located closer than 30 ft from the meter, I would think there would also be plenty of situations where it was not practical and they were not. Cases like a seperate meter for an upstairs apartment that has it's own panel located there for example. I also don't see what exactly the big safety issue would be having it be 30 ft as opposed to say 10 ft, as long as the wiring was done correctly.
Did you see the post in this thread about using one of the add-on interlock systems?
That's a point I always come back to. Here in NJ the power just doesn't go out that much or for long enough to make it worthwhile to worry about. In about 35 years, I only had one outage that was close to ruining frozen food. And that time the power came back on just as I was returning with $25 worth of dry ice.
That's what I am worried about with #2. #2 is also less desirable if I add circuits later. After the frig, the gas water heater controls and exhaust fan, and the gas furnace air handler would be my next priorities. I would hate to have three circuits with plugs/sockets in line.
They have a 12v battery for accessories. I think it's been pretty well established that a 12v car battery won't run much of anything for any period. A fridge will be 4-500 watts when running. That's about
35 amps at 12v,
Off the hybrid battery it would be more like a couple amps. Problem then is finding an inverter that works at the hybrid battery voltage. And since volages on hybrids varies pretty widely it would be a good idea to find one with a wide supply range so that it works with your next hybrid. I'm thinking that the inverter costs for this theoretical project is now in the thousands.
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