DIY Home Generator Hookup (youtube)

[GerryB]

National Ram Electronics has all the interlock kits for $69.00 last one I bought 2 months ago. If the guy got one of those and a power inlet box for fifty bucks, a 30 amp breaker for $10 and the female end instead of two males he'd be legal for only $130.00.

 

[GoldDigger]

... he'd be legal for only $130.00.

Except for not being an electrician and not having a permit, that is.

 

[kwired]

HD, Lowes et al should not be selling electrical supplies to unlicensed amateurs. It is amazing that any idiot can walk in there and buy enough material to DIY a 200 amp sevice. "You can burn the house down, we can help." Man. Build a deck or plant some flowers, but stay out of the electrical department.

What is stupid is many of the same people will hire someone to build the deck or plant the flowers, but electrical work is too expensive, so I will see if I can do it myself. Never mind the fact it has a higher risk of killing myself or my family or friends if I do it wrong.

Seems to me that could happen if the generator end were not referenced to ground; there would be line to line potential only.

The ground reference (or lack of one) at the generator will not matter to the other side (high voltage side) of the transformer - it is essentially a separately derived system and has its own ground reference with the primary neutral and all the grounding electrodes that are connected to it at just about every structure it attaches to.

 

[kwired]

National Ram Electronics has all the interlock kits for $69.00 last one I bought 2 months ago. If the guy got one of those and a power inlet box for fifty bucks, a 30 amp breaker for $10 and the female end instead of two males he'd be legal for only $130.00.

But two male ends is only like $30-$40 or even less than that depending on exactly what plugs you are using, you have to look at if from the HO perspective:happyyes:

 

[ggunn]

The ground reference (or lack of one) at the generator will not matter to the other side (high voltage side) of the transformer - it is essentially a separately derived system and has its own ground reference with the primary neutral and all the grounding electrodes that are connected to it at just about every structure it attaches to.

True enough, but I thought we were speaking of a lineman working between the transformer and the residence.

 

[Little Bill]

Charlie, you're thoughts are good, but the "suicide cord" or "widow maker" as you call it, are not a problem/danger to a lineman. They are a danger to whomever is plugging them in.

They are called "suicide cords" because the male end that plugs in to the receptacle is hot. If someone were to start the generator before plugging it in and grabbed the hot male end, then is where your "widow maker" could come in to play.:happysad:

But the whole concept of ignorant (but who think they know) persons connecting generators in this fashion without a means to prevent back feeding the grid, are what is of concern here.

What about this scenario: Power goes down to the house because of a problem at the transformer at the pole (the rest of the grid is unaffected). Homeowner plugs in generator and starts it up without opening his disco/main breaker. Lineman goes up pole to fix problem and doesn't know the feeder to the house is energized by the genny.

Or HO plugs in generator after lineman has already confirmed no voltage and started working.

I wasn't responding to Charlie about the practice of backfeeding the panel/grid from a genny.
See my post above in red.

I was explaining why the cords were called suicide cords. I read his post as thinking the whole process was called "suicide cords".
Suicide means to kill one's self not someone else.

I agree, people should not hook up a genny unless they REALLY know what they are doing. Mainly, NEVER backfeed the panel without a transfer switch or interlock of some type.

Sorry for the confusion!

 

[GoldDigger]

True enough, but I thought we were speaking of a lineman working between the transformer and the residence.

The specific case reference in the side thread was one where the lineman was working on the HV side of the service transformer and the HV lines were supposedly grounded as part of the repair process.

 

[kwired]

True enough, but I thought we were speaking of a lineman working between the transformer and the residence.

If HO is supplying his premises wiring with a generator, there will be a ground reference via the grounding electrode system of his premises wiring whether the generator has a neutral to ground connection or not.

 

[Cruisinfanatic]

National Ram Electronics has all the interlock kits for $69.00 last one I bought 2 months ago. If the guy got one of those and a power inlet box for fifty bucks, a 30 amp breaker for $10 and the female end instead of two males he'd be legal for only $130.00.

This is exactly what I'd like to do. Can't find anywhere saying interlocks are legal for portable generator hookups.