Short Circuit only when the Main Breaker is OFF

[ptonsparky]

Turn the Main and every breaker off in the panel. even the Gen feed.

Start the Generator. Does its CB remain on? Is it a GFCI? Yes, you passed step 1. No, well not so good. Start over.

Next check voltage on the back feed generator circuit breaker. What are your voltages? 240 L1-L2, 120 L1-N, 120 L2-N.
No, back up you have something wrong.


Clamp a couple amp meters on each incoming generator lines. Set them to catch MAX current while still monitoring voltages.
Turn on the Gen fed CB. Nothing should have changed.

Turn on one single pole circuit. Note current and voltage. Check running amps.

Repeat...

Do not exceed the generator capacity.

Nothing more than any one else has said. One step at a time.

 

[mivey]

The circuits with continuity have loads on them. These combined running loads are big enough to trip the gen breaker on overload. Simple enough. Make sure the loads are all off so you can cut on just what the gen will handle.

Keep in mind that a generator will not push full amps like you might think. Suppose you have an 8 kW unit. You might think: 8000 ÷ 240 = 33 amps. You are probably not going to get that unit to run 30 amps worth of summed loads. Allow for some inefficiency, volt drop, and maybe some hidden parasitic loads and don't push the unit to the limit.