Yes and yes...set my own coveralls on fire while mig welding a fender patch...and also was in a garage explosion when leaking gasoline ignited due to a furnace cutting in...kinda looked like the coyote after been blown up..hehehe....All I smelt for a week was burnt hair.

 

Before hooking up your portable generator without the proper "Approved" connections, take a few minutes to view this:

YouTube - Power Line Safety


YouTube - 50000 Volt Accident

 

Cant you find any youtube videos with hot blonde chicks licking their knees?

 

IF I did and posted them, they'd be the last posts I'd ever make, here.


I do want to see that, though. Ever since she mentioned it. . . my curiousity has been off the scale!

 

Im thinking an FTE roadtrip is in order - rent the entire motel and in return - demonstration. Think she'd go for it?

 

Haahahhaaaaahaahaaaaaahaahaahaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

1) Backfeeding with a male to male cable is illegal, to say nothing of dangerous, and the liability aspects are enormous, no matter how you attempt to justify it with locked breakers, intelligence, etc.

2) Even IF the main breaker is off, there are certain situations where a generator can induce voltage in the main line.

Here's a link to the manual transfer switch I selected as the best bang for the buck:
Amazon.com: Reliance Controls TRC1006D 60-100 Amp Utility Subpanel for up to 15,000-Watt Generators: Home Improvement

When I ordered it the price was $159.00 with free shipping. So an internet search may turn up a better price.

NOTE: ANYONE installing any kind of a transfer switch for a generator - if you don't know the difference between floating and bonded neutral and the installation requirements for each, RUN, don't walk to the nearest licensed electrician for help. Otherwise, situation 2 above can occur even with a transfer switch.

 

this is the switch I referenced earlier. but you can do this cheaper

 

lets see what happens when a child pulls it out and chews on it...sorry about the rant but this

We dont get alot of them cord eating kids in this area.

 

i will just take the generator, and plug in what i need, when i need it... making sure the fridge is always pluged in, and 2 small heaters... and the electric blankets and a breathing machine for moms sleep apneia

 

And how would that be and still keep it legal?

 

because it is not required that power failure starts a generator (mine does not have the starter installed) and it is not required that you stop and reconnect to utility when it comes back - all you really need is the switch with the lockout - one that drops connect on customer power loss, and wont reconnect when there is generated power signal.

Or a large DPDT switch to run the whole house from one for the other but never both. If your house is wired anywhere near to code, there is NO utility supplied neutral - that comes literally from the poles guy wires and your own ground as the household transformers are not center tapped.

 

Now you really have me confused ......I didn't say anything about a power failure starting a generator. In fact, the transfer switch I referenced is a manual transfer switch.

And that large DPDT switch big enough to handle 200 to 400 amps is gonna cost you a bundle. And then you have to turn off all the breakers you can't run on emergency power, and turn them back on after power is restored. The transfer switch transfers power only on the circuits you wnat backed up.

And where on earth did you get the idea that the utility doesn't supply a neutral? Go look at the wires feeding your house - count them, there's three- one of them is a neutral. And guess what happens if you lose that neutral? Yep, things go smoke........Neutral and equipment ground are commoned together only in one place - usually the service panel that has the ground rod connected to it. Guess you totally missed my previous comment about bonded & floating neutral also??

 

Ok, I have the SAME power company as you. I have exactly 2 'wires' in the coated sense and a third that is a converted end of the mettalic cable the other two are wrapped around - the catenary if you will.

why does the power company not supply neutral or ground? because mother nature does. if you center tap a transformer and it shorts out, you risk taking down 1/2 of the primary.

so our power company, the one you and I have, has 7.5kv, 9kv, 11kv, 15kv and 17.5kv wire sets into neighbor hoods. greater the local load - the greater the voltage to keep the wire size down. the transformer reduces to roughly 240v around a neutral, a neutral generated (no pun intended) at the plant. the pole the transformer sits on has a huge cable runing into the ground - this ties it. in case this breaks, your house must also have 1 (2 today) copper rods into the ground and a water bond.

so what has happened? your entire local circuit from the secondary of the transformer to every outlet is produced and consumed on the site. there is no physical link from your home to the power company

take a moment to think why 3 wire, dual circuit runs are efficient. Isnt the same to be said for the much larger '3 wire dual circuit run' from the transformer?

if you do have a 3rd coated wire, trace it back to mr transformer and you will find it tied to the ground, but htat is usually not the case unless a number of homes feed from the same transformer in which case neutral has to be controlled. my own transformer btw, was replaced, with the pole, 18 months ago - brand new equipment.

 

Not so....the wire you are referring to is called "triplex". The two insulated wires are tied to the two outsides of the secondary on the pole transformer. The uninsulated one serves two purposes - it is used to hang the cable, and IS connected to the center tap on the transformer. The three wires run to the service head, where there are 3 conductors, with 3 in a conduit, or more likely in this area, service entrance cable, which is two insulated wires wrapped with a spiral third uninsulated conducter, and the whole is covered with a vinyl covering. This goes into the meter base, and connects to the meter lugs, 2 hot AND a neutral. The same type cable leaves the meter base and runs to the service entrance panel. Look at your panel, and you will see the two insulated cables connected to lugs that feed the main breaker. The third uninsulated one connects to the NEUTRAL bus. It is in this panel that you first encounter a "ground". This is the (usually bare) copper wire that runs to your grounding electrode.

Note that the grounding conductor in most cases is no heavier than # 4 wire, which is incapable of carrying the max neutral current that might be drawn in a 200 or 400 amp service.

There are variations on this as described, such as service panel on the outside of the house, or a disconnect after the meter, etc, but they ALL have a neutral.

Go look closely at the transformer and unless I miss my guess, there are three terminals on the side of it, to which the triplex connects.