portable generator bonding switch

N

nycfyrman

Member
Location
NY
Occupation
Fire Marshal
I saw an individual online place a bonding switch on his generator for when its used at his home. He stated the switch breaks the bond and neutral connection on the generator for when its used at his home as opposed to being used as a remote power source.

What say the experts on this? I saw in the comments that many said that failing to seperate the bonding and neutral would cause the ground to conduct current, but then I said to myself that would cause the breaker to pop would it not?
 
It won’t trip the breaker because it doesn’t cause an overload. The concern is parallel paths for neutral current.

I know that a switch, or a jumper plug, is commonly used to bond/un-bond portable generators. It’s not a real world problem, but I’m sure someone somewhere could find some inconsequential issue with it, or some violation of some obscure and useless regulation.
 
I assume the breakers don't trip because. the overall output of the generator is not exceeding the individual ratings of each breaker, but its still would be present on a conductor that doesn't normally carry it.
 
The neutral current splits between the grounded conductor and the grounding conductor, from the MBJ at the panel back to the portable gen.

With flexible power cables, it is not really a real world issue, however, it is still very much an NEC violation, and in some situations, could be very dangerous.
 
Some portable generators tell you how to remove the bond for connection to a house panel. So I don't see any difference between physically removing the bond vs a switch that unbonds it. I'm sure someone will say "what if they forget to flip the switch?"
 
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