Generator Hook Up O/T

I'm one of the lucky Kentuckyns with out power, my wife in on her way to ohio to get a generator....although I won't get to it right now, how would be the best way to hook it up to power my house....the generator is a 8000 watt generator with a 13,500 peak.

Thanks,

Kelly

Make darn sure she also gets a plug for the generator end !

Best way is to wire in a transfer switch circuit panel.

The way it will likely be done in the middle of a storm is to yank the meter and hook the wires in.

I plan on doing the transfer switch once the weather gets warm enough. Just wondering what all will be required to do one. I can come by a 30 amp twist lock pretty easy, in fact I think I have one at the house.

this is not the answer you want to hear, but for the safety of you, your family and electric lineman here it is! if you have to ask this question then the only way to utilize the generator is to plug your electric cords directly into the available receptables on the generator set. make sure the gasoline engine is operated outdoors and away from doors and windows that could allow carbon monoxide to enter you home.

I plug into a 30 amp 220 outlet in the garage and trip the main(200amp)breaker at the panel. I also have a 220 volt red power lamp installed before the main breaker so I can tell when the power comes back on. Usually lose power a couple of times a year and have never hurt anyone.

check with your lectric provider.
South Central Power in Ohio has been advertising for the last few years that they will install an adaptor to the meter that you plug your generator into, good for 6kw I believe.
If done this way you will have no problems about it being properly insatlled and will be able to turn lights on and off at will.
Remember you won't be able to run the whole house at once but it will be handier than a transfer switch with 6 circuits only
Ron

The simplest way may be this interlock plate installed on your house service panel. I live in Iowa and on REC. I have asked their technical department if this would satisify their requirements. The answer was yes.

I would suggest that you ask your supplier if this would be acceptable to them if you decide to go this route.

The plate is constructed so that the main breaker must be turned off before the plate can be slid upwards allowing the "back feed" generator breaker to be turned on.
Interlock Plate for service panel

Myself and other engineers and electricians beat this to death on this a while back on another board I may try n find you the link later, no sense in re inventing the wheel all over again lol

To do it right and safe, you need EITHER a lock out assembly on your existing panel (it insures main is tripped before the panel can be back fed via a generator) OR else use a transfer switch......

If you use a two pole transfer switch or backfeed a 2 pole breaker and dont do any Neutral switching,,,,,,you must remove the generators Neutral to case/frame bond and then run 4 wires (2 hots L1 and L2,,,,,Neutral,,,,,,,Equipment Ground Conductor) from the genny to the transfer or panel.

NOTE if the genny itself is used to feed plug n cord connected equipment right from its own receptacles, in that case the gennys case/frame to Neutral bond remains intact and no grounding electrodes are required i.e. you dont have to drive a ground rod and connect it to the genny.

NOWWWWWWWW before anyone jumps my bones sureeeeeeee I know (I used to design secondary electrical distribution systems for a living) if you use as 2 pole 3 wire grounding type of say a welding receptacle (has 2 hots and equipment ground, not any seperate Neutral) to backfeed a 240 volt 2 pole circuit so BOTH legs L1 and L2 in yoru panel are energized sureeeeeeeee it works BUTTTTTTTTTTT Im ONLY saying its unsafe and violates all sorts of NEC safety rules and regulations. Its your house so do as yall please fer all I care butttttt the life you save by doing it right may be you or your familys or an electrical lineman......

Best wishes stay warm n safe now ya hear

John T long retired electrical engineer

I'm LOL a little at John T's intoroduction. Couldn't blame him for bein' tired. He posted his heiney off on this subject a month or two ago when that storm came through and knocked out a lot of the upper midwest and northeast.

That said, his advice and Pete Black's are good.

My own generator (15/22.5kW) has a four-prong connector for a house connection, and I run a cord to a four-prong connection hard-wired to a 50A double breaker, with one of the slider-type lockouts to prevent backfeeding. All to code.

The issue of the neutral being bonded to the frame is on spot.

Most of the generators out there are of two, overlapping general types. There's the one better suited for contractors looking for power at remote sites. That one will have the neutral bonded to the frame. You likely will not find a four-prong outlet on one of those.

The other (and typically larger) type can power tools or a house and will have at least one outlet with four prongs.

Trick is that the size you're looking at kind of falls in the high load range of the former, the smaller end of the range for the latter, and could be either. 8/13.5kw is certainly enough to keep a house running if you manage your loads. The owner's manual with it may (OR MAY NOT!) provide some guidance.

And even if your new generator should have a four-prong outlet, dollars to donuts you don't have something with four prongs on the house end yet to plug it into.

In this case, until you're wired correctly to your panel, you'd be better off running extension cords of sufficient capacity off your generator outlets to your critical needs (furnace, freezer, water pump . . . and enboug lights to find your way around), even if that means putting a plug and receptacle in the hard wiring to the furnace (i.e., most of the time it will be plugged into the hard wiring from the box, but to the generator during outages, meaning you have to buy two female plugs for the power side to every male plug for the appliance side) or the water pump, if that's an issue.

Stay warm and let us know how you're making out. And, whatever you do, make SURE your main breakers are off (or main fuses removed) before you hook the generator to the house.

Don't you just love Duke?

You neighbor N. of the River (Clermont co.)

if you already LOVE DUKE, just wait, it only gets better.

duke customer of 5 years.

You can't connect the generator to the hydro service with out this.

http://www.reliancecontrols.com/ProductDetail.aspx?TWB2012DR

Those who use the cheapskate farmer fixes have no clue about the danger they present to their families, the utility workers and their property.

You haven't hurt anyone YET! The people in the know all say that you are asking for trouble sooner rather than later. Dave