New Toy

[Tango]

Re: Warp Drive online

Never follow step 4 :? or any of this unless you are a electrician.


You can turn off the main switch on your fuseboard and run a lead from the generator with a plug on the end & power up all circuits in your house, (isolate water heater) but....
1. If the plug was unplugged from the socket the Pins are LIVE.
2. You have a 7kw generator the fuse may be 50A, if you touched the pins you could get seriously burnt or very dead :roll: Any child may unplug this
3. the cable you use isn't likely to be able to carry the current, never mind fault current so could catch on fire.

If you don't know what your doing, ie. not an electrician don't do this.


Thanks a spark with 28 years experiance, Never do this.

OK. Here's a trick to power the whole house.

1. Turn OFF the main to your house (This prevents uploading power to the local transformer when the power comes back on). Otherwise, you'll be uploading 110 volts to the local transformer which will convert it to a much higher voltage that can electrocute any lineman working on the power lines.
2. Run a double male extension cord from the generator to a wall outlet. This will power 1/2 of the house. You'll have to make this double male because AFAIK, nobody sells anything like this.
3. Obtain a piece of copper about 1/4 inch in diameter and bend it into a U shape.
4. Plug the copper U into your electric dryer's outlet - one side of the U into each of the two plug holes (don't use the ground hole, just the hot and the neutral). DO NOT TOUCH THIS COPPER U WHILE THE GENERATOR IS RUNNING !!! If you don't have a 220 outlet for an electric dryer, then skip numbers 3 and 4. In this case you will only have power to 1/2 of the outlets and light switches. This is because your 220 dryer outlet combines 2 110 circuits to make the 220 for the dryer. I suppose a 220 electric stove outlet would work as well.
5. Turn on the generator. You now have power to every 110 outlet in the house and every 110 light switch.

Now just watch your neighborhood street lights to see when the power comes back on and then follow these steps in reverse to safely unhook from the generator.

I know this works because I used to do it in Florida when a hurricane would knock out the power for days at a time. Eventually, I just hard-wired the generator to a sub panel and installed a cut-off switch to make it easier to run the house on generator power.

 

[Tango]

If you want some safe switching to a generator, call an electrician & your generator would need a remote start feature.



PS. send me your generator :icecream:

 

[NavyRet]

Sorry, I have to disagree. I did it this way for 15 years in Florida where we had hurricanes and power outages that lasted for days almost every other year. If you are of normal intelligence and careful, there is no problem. As for children, I didn't have any at the time, so that was not a consideration.

 

[kirk1701®]

Navy I have to agree with Shroom here

Not to mention you could void your homeowners insurance if there is a fire, not worth the risk.

If I were to do it, would be a 220 line from the generator to the 220 for the dryer.

Turn off all breakers including main and only turn on the breaker for the appliances I need power to.

That U in the 220 is just dangerous.

 

[Tango]

I would fit something like this to my supply if it failed all the time, connect the generator and main supply to it & make the generator auto start if the main supply failed

1x Enclosure, 1x 4 pole isolator, 5 x MCB, 1xRCD, 1x 4 Pole contactor nox2,ncx2, time delay relay, a timeclock to stop generator kicking in set hours.

Then if the supply failed it would auto switch to the generator and be fused correctly & comply with IEE wiring regulations.

 

[kirk1701®]

Done a little digging with an electrician that lived in the neighborhood; would require some changing out of the breaker to a 40 amp breaker in the box.

Changing that also means running new 10 gauge wire because right now it has a 30 amp/ 12 gauge wire so it would be within code.

He didn't recommend doing this for something you might never need and if and when we did, might only be a day.

I've always been one to put safety first, no offense Navy but think I'll stick with extension cords.

 

[NavyRet]

None taken. It was just a suggestion.

 

[kirk1701®]

None taken. It was just a suggestion.

epsi:

 

[chrasna]

That is VERY cool! If you have an extra, send it to me!

-Chris

 

[kirk1701®]

Extra what?