Got the house wired. Finally!!

[ratski]

Woot Woot!!!

Man I am so stoked right now.

After about a year of talking about it and "planning on doing it" I finally got it done!!!

I had talked about this project with a friend of mine who is an electrician.
Asked him what it would take to get my house set up to run off of my generator.

I know some guys have talked about running a male to male plug off of the genny into the wall and backfeeding the circuits.
Didn't want to do that. Just wasn't real comfortable.

So, we sat down and figured out what we/he needed.

Got it installed today.
Fired up the genny and after a few false starts, the house went hot!!!

SWEET!!!!!!

Now, instead of crawling around in the attic and dropping down 7 thousand extension chords and connectors I just have to switch two breakers, plug in 100 feet of #8 chord to the outside box and the other end to the generator and presto...we have lights.

I know it isn't enough to run the AC, but that isn't my worry.
I now have power to the lights and heat and fans!!!

Yeah baby!!!!

Dave

 

[BadgeBunny]

Whoa!! VERY nice! We had talked about doing that but since we have definitely decided to get the bell out of town in the next year we'll wait and wire up the new place.

 

[Blitzfike]

Dave you didn't go with a transfer switch? There are several ways to do it properly, one of the easier ways is to get a transfer switch that goes between your power meter and the house. Gen set connects to one side and the incoming power connects to the other. Pull a switch and you are done. Most folks don't realize that backfeeding with an outlet can kill a service tech as it feeds back through the transformer on the pole and energizes the line when your genset is running. I have a big OLD manual transfer switch to fix my system. Without a transfer switch to open the incoming line, if you ever forget to throw those breakers you may energize the incoming line. I'd have to see what you installed. Even a small generator is a great thing to have when the grid is down. I've been experimenting with propane as a generator fuel. A demand regulator and the proper interface between your gasoline carb intake is about all it takes. I'm still working the bugs out of my test installation but so far it looks good. The test generator is a 5.5 KW unit. I also have a 10 KW diesel and a 6.5 kw gas model for emergency use.

 

[ratski]

We have two breaker boxes in the house.
The one closest to the main and one on the other side of the house.

The second box draws it's power off of the first one instead of thru the main.

We hooked the power up to a separate breaker on the second box.
It was MUCH closer to where I have run the generator when power goes out.
One Male end of the cord attaches to the 240V feed off of the genny
Male cord attaches to a recessed input on the house.
Used a recessed, female and covered input so that kids don't accidentally touch the power circuit.
This is wired to the separate breaker in the second box.

Power goes out.
Throw the main breaker in the first box.
Throw the "genny" breaker in the second box
Hook up the 100 foot power chord (pulling it off of a hose reel) to the genny and the input
Start up the genny.

Only thing left to do is hookup a "power alert" light to the main line to show me inside the house when the power is back on.

Power comes back on.
Throw the "genny breaker".
Throw the main in the first box

Dave

 

[dennishoddy]

Similar to my set up. I have a shop building fed from the house/main. I trip the main breaker in the house to not backfeed the service line, and back feed the house through a 100 amp breaker in the shop while the generator sits in the shop humming along. All of the outlets, etc work just like normal.

unplug all of the big loads like the two freezers, fridge and electric heat. Turn them on one at a time, and we are good to go until the utility company can get to us. We live in the sticks, so consequently we are the lowest priority to restore service.

 

[Sanford]

Cool beans - you'll love it if you ever need it, Dave!

I used a breaker interlock at the main panel, added one breaker for backfeed to the panel and a weatherproof outdoor male connector to hook up the genset cord.

Remember to keep your generator fuel fresh (I cycle mine through the auto and replace it every few months) and fire the genny up and exercise it for a bit every now and again as well.

 

[dennishoddy]

fire the genny up and exercise it for a bit every now and again as well.

Yes ^^^ my gen mfg says to run it at least every 6 months with a heavy load. I run a 1000 watt lamp for several hours, then put treated gas back in it when its cool.

 

[1krr]

Which outside plug did you use (one of those deals that look like a large recessed male plug)? I'm like you in that I've always been nervous of the darwin cables (two male plugs) or forgetting to turn off the mains.

 

[ratski]

Here is the plug on the outside.

Got a hose reel at walmart to store the power cord hook up on.

Dave

 

[Sanford]

Which outside plug did you use (one of those deals that look like a large recessed male plug)? I'm like you in that I've always been nervous of the darwin cables (two male plugs) or forgetting to turn off the mains.

Mine's similar to Dave's custom job ... but I'm lazier so took the easy route and used a power inlet from Home Depot, along with the matching 25' cable to the gen set. You could also use an RV hookup cable if you happen to have one with the right connectors.