solid neutral

[gonzo1]

Hi everyone,this is my first post,so please excuse any and all discrepencies that i'm almost sure to make.
I'm excited to be posting and reading information on this forum as I have in the past bought books, videos ,downloads from
mike, (get a life right?) and I really look forward to participating.With the big scare of hurricane Irene and our lack
of emergency rediness here on the east coast(speaking for my self) I have a family member who wants to have a backup gen installed
so i'll be picking the collective brain hear.Thanx ahead of time.


Now on to my question,as I've read some posts on gen installs I've gotten much info,particularly,and most importantly the
need for interlocking.It seems that our ungrounded conductors are of utmost importance(deservedly so) but why is it that with an ats which does not switch neutral (solidly connected) are we not concerned with backfeed issues?arent there situations where we have stray currents traveling through it?especially with portable units that dont have any load shedding equip. and possibly feeding an unbalanced load(where neutral carries unbalanced difference).thanx and please go easy on this newb.

 

[George Stolz]

Electricity is seeking a path back to it's source. Having a return path to a different source doesn't change much. It tries to find the gen when it's running.

 

[augie47]

Welcome to posting

George pretty well gave you the answer in a nutshell.....

 

[al hildenbrand]

Welcome to the Forum !

To paraphrase George's point: even though the Power Company and the generator are connected by a solid neutral, the current coming out of the generator doesn't know about the PoCo. The generator's current has to return to the generator to complete the circuit.

A DC model would be a small light run by a battery. The current goes around the "circuit".

Add a second battery on the other side of the light, but only connect the negative terminal of the battery to the negative side of the small light. There is no wire on the positive side of this second battery. This battery is the equivalent of the PoCo, when the PoCo is down, and the other battery (the one actually lighting the small light) is the counterpart of the generator. The wire that connects the two batteries negative terminals to the small light is the counterpart of the solid neutral.

 

[gonzo1]

gotcha

gotcha

Thanx folks for the replies, so basically the current will return to it's source(the gen) i was picturing it mouch like a seperately derived system
wherein the egc's and nuetrals have to be separated,how current travels back to your mbj.(but that's a seperate matter altogether.thanx