hooking up rental trailer generator to an existing house

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vincedigital

Member
Location
caribbean
Occupation
electrical cad technician
if i have a 300amp service for a house and i want to install a service rated transfer switch beside the main panel and just rent a 70kw generator trailer during power outage, how do you hook up the generator to the transfer switch? thanks
 

jap

Senior Member
Occupation
Electrician
Wire in a pin and sleeve connector to the genny terminals on the ATS is one way

That would be the biggest pin and sleeve connector I've ever seen in my life.

I'd suggest a Transfer Switch with camlock capabilities.

JAP>
 
The generator is most likely going to have lugs on it, so whatever you do will need bare ends. For this, Camloks are a good way to go since you can rent any needed extension leads and the pigtails along with the generator.

(A pin/sleeve connector set will be $$$$$$$ for this size.)
 

d0nut

Senior Member
Location
Omaha, NE
if i have a 300amp service for a house and i want to install a service rated transfer switch beside the main panel and just rent a 70kw generator trailer during power outage, how do you hook up the generator to the transfer switch? thanks
If you are trying to rent a generator during a power outage, you are probably too late. If the outage is more widespread than just your location, the generator rentals will be in short supply.
 

jap

Senior Member
Occupation
Electrician
If you are trying to rent a generator during a power outage, you are probably too late. If the outage is more widespread than just your location, the generator rentals will be in short supply.

Wouldn't this only apply to the customers that weren't the first ones there to rent a generator?

JAP>
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
Even if a rental generator is available, by the time you can get it there the outage will likely be over.

And at full load 70 kw is about 10 gallons of fuel per hour.
 

Dzboyce

Senior Member
Location
Royal City, WA
Occupation
Washington 03 Electrician & plumber
Even if a rental generator is available, by the time you can get it there the outage will likely be over.

And at full load 70 kw is about 10 gallons of fuel per hour.
Hmm, my 250kw generator, running a 125 hp pump motor fully loaded, burns just over 4 gallons per hour. My 20kw generator with a 10 hp load burns less than 1 gallon per hour.

And in the Caribbean, with the storm they've just had, it could conceivably be weeks before power is restored.
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
Hmm, my 250kw generator, running a 125 hp pump motor fully loaded, burns just over 4 gallons per hour. My 20kw generator with a 10 hp load burns less than 1 gallon per hour.

And in the Caribbean, with the storm they've just had, it could conceivably be weeks before power is restored.
125 HP is about 313,000 BTU/HR. There is about 137,000 BTU per gallon of diesel, and most diesel motor operated generators run about 40% efficient at full load. 125 HP would be about 5.8 GPH. 4 GPH suggests a load closer to 85 HP.
 
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GoldDigger

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
In California, rental generators, even trailer mounted commercial, are rented out (often to commercial customers with standing orders) within an hour of the time a PSPS (planned several day outage for wildfire reduction) is announced or an unplanned outage occurs.
Portable generators at big box stores may last a little bit longer.

The OP's plan might work for a purely local outage.
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
In California, rental generators, even trailer mounted commercial, are rented out (often to commercial customers with standing orders) within an hour of the time a PSPS (planned several day outage for wildfire reduction) is announced or an unplanned outage occurs.
Portable generators at big box stores may last a little bit longer.

The OP's plan might work for a purely local outage.
for the OP's plan to work you would need to pay a rental place to have a rental generator waiting for you.
 

jap

Senior Member
Occupation
Electrician
for the OP's plan to work you would need to pay a rental place to have a rental generator waiting for you.

Not really.

The home owner could have a brother in law that owns a generator rental place.

We all have one you know.

Quit being so negative,,,

JAP>
 

winnie

Senior Member
Location
Springfield, MA, USA
Occupation
Electric motor research
I'd also suggest installing an energy monitor to learn the actual load of this home. I rather doubt it needs a 70kVA generator.

Of course with a 300A service the customer may be willing to pay for a 300A generator...but I bet a 20 kVA genny would do the job

Jon
 
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