I just got the deal of a lifetime today, I literally walked into this one, Someone returned a generator to a local store, well the store was marking things down to get rid of the returns as is. I asked how much for the generator and the guy said, "I don't think it runs, so give me 50!" I thought what the hell, I mean this thing looked just out of the box. I bought it, turns out the people who bought it only got it to power their house because of a prolonged outage due to storms. They just said it didn't work right to get the money back. I got it home pulled the cord and it purrred like a kitten, I plugged in a few things they too worked, then I put the power demand to it and it still purred. SO I think this qualifies a a high end gloat....
You know, if you put a Clothes dryer plug on the generator, plug it in where the dryer would normally plug in, TURN OFF your main breakers, you have power anywhere in your house if there is a power failure. Just be sure to Turn OFF the main breaker.
Free rental army. It costs us all in the end. When there was a tremendous rain storm in the Chicago area about nine years ago (17" in 24 hours in my town), a lot of homes got flooded. A couple of Home Depots wound up with dozens of wet/dry vacs that clearly had been used once only to clean up a house and returned. To add insult to the process, the (ab)users didn't even have the decency to clean them up.
1) it's *dangerous**BAD*THINGS* happen if the generator is plugged in _and_ the utility power gets connected.
2) If you're inside any sort of 'civilization', it's probably contrary to building/electrical code.
3) Unless it's a _honkin_big_ generator, it's way too easy to overload it with the 'household' load. This can result in no power in the house *and* a dead generator.
*IF* you're planning for 'house power', for extended utility outages, invest some money, and 'do it right'. That means: 1) Run a sub-panel for the 'critical' circuits. 2) Feed the sub-panel from a single big breaker in the main panel. 3) Install a 'transfer switch' between the main panel and the sub-panel. 4) Connect the generator as the 'other' input to the transfer switch.
OTOH, for those who are the 'live dangerously' type, the following sequence of steps should be followed _exactly_,*NO*EXCEPTIONS*. There are multiple reasons why things are in the order they are -- ranging from a danger of burning out the house wiring and blowing the generator, to minimizing the instabilities resulting from abrupt load changes on the generator.
Before starting, make sure that the outlet you intend to use for 'feeding' power to the rest of the house is the _only_ thing on the associated breaker. If not, *DON'T*USE*THAT*OUTLET* -- find a different one.
When the power goes out: 1) turn off the main breaker -- Note: chief city electrical inspector here says that the 'normal' 100A/150A/200A breakers are _not_ intended to be used as 'switches'; that a relatively small number of such cycles (like in the 'low tens' of times) can render it ineffectual as a breaker. 2) turn off _all_ the individual circuit breakers 3) *PLUG*IN* the generator to the house wiring -- unplugging the dryer, or other device, if necessary. 4) *START* the generator, and wait for it to stabilize. 5) turn _on_ the breaker feeding that outlet. This applies power to the entire 'bus' in the panel. 6) turn _on_, *one*by*one*, and waiting at least 10-15 seconds between each one, the *MINIMUM* number of 'critical' circuits you need to power.
You have an upper-limit on the load capacity, set by the 'dryer circuit' wiring, and breaker. If your generator has a lower 'steady load' output than that, then the generator is the limiting factor. GENERALLY, it's a good idea to keep the total rated capacity of the 'switched on' circuits under 150% of the "limit".
When 'utility' power is restored -- something you have *NO*WAY* of telling about, "in house", then you: 1) turn -off- the 'critical' circuits, one by one, waiting several seconds (3-5 is sufficient) between each one. 2) turn -off- the breaker feeding the outlet with the generator. 3) stop the generator. 4) DISCONNECT the generator from the house wiring. 5) turn -on- the main breaker. 6) turn -on- all the individual breakers, one-by-one, waiting 5 seconds or so, between each one.
That is why I twice indicated to not forget to shut off the main circuit breaker. If you don't the generator would probably quit running immediately as the strain of trying to power the neighborhood would surely bring it to a stop.
Perhaps but the use of an extension cord is against code in many cases.
As long as everything is turned off that would be a big drain there would be no problem.
The whole mention of this by me was to point out that it is more conveinent to energize the whole house and not have to bring extension cords to the generator to run things like the freezer and or refrigerator in the event of a power failure plus a few lights.
I used to be a HD vendor. They will just charge the vendor back for them, and probably add in a few more for good measure. Yes, we will all end up paying for them, but it doesn't hurt HD any.
My next door neighbor had his sewer back up on him yesterday. The plumber came today and fixed the problem. My neighbor wanted to borrow my wet vac if I hade one. I though to my self, do I want to lend him my wet vac to suck up sewerage from his floors? Noooo.. I only have a shop vac, I told him. Go and rent one was my answer. He went to HD and bought a wet vac, did his work and indicated that the shop/wet vac was not to expensive and he would "probably" keep it. "PROBABLY KEEP IT"?????? I said to my self, you "probably" deserve what you got, backed up sewerage in you house. I wonder how many other times he has done this.
Just remember that if you forget to turn off the main breaker and the power company can prove that it was you who killed their lineman (yours is the only house with lights on, right?) you'll go to jail for -murder-.
Alternatively, get a transfer switch and hook up your favorite circuits to it. They'll disconnect from the mains and go live when the gen set comes on and you hit the switch.
Ebay for "transfer switch", $50, you have 12 hours!
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Searcher, you suck. That's a valid gloat.
On Wed, 07 Jul 2004 01:18:04 GMT, "Searcher" calmly ranted:
---------------------------------------------- Never attempt to traverse a chasm in two leaps
Not in my neighborhood, ;~) there are 4 neighbors that use their generators when the power goes out. I still believe that the generator would stall if you forgot to turn the main breaker off.
I think that has something to do with the ground. I could be wrong. IIRC you do not see male polarized plugs if equipped with the 3rd ground prong. I know that it does not matter how a switch or appliance operates even if you "force" the incorrect union of this type of plug.
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