Generator questions, help needed

[dhud64]

Generator questions:<br />In prep for the coming ice storm I have a 5.5 kw Generac generator that will be put back for me when they arrive later tonight. Questions- <br />1) Anyone familiar with the Generac 5.5 generator?<br />I was only planning on powering the blower on our wood stove and maybe the fridge and a television, but someone told me that the 5.5 should run the blower on my furnace. <br />2) What do I look at if I wanted to hook this into my furnace?<br /><br />Thanks in advance...

 

[Bondo]

Re: Generator questions, help needed

A 5500 watt generac Should run the Whole House for you........<br /><br />I mean, you Don't want to use an Eletric Stove, or Hotwater Heater, or a Clothes Dryer, or other Resistance applications.....<br /><br />But, it should run a couple of Lights,+ the TV,+ the Fridge,+ maybe the Microwave,+ the Furnace,+ even the waterpump........<br /><br />To hook it up, <br /> Pull the Big Main Breaker out of the Entrance Panel ..................<br /><br />Then use a Double-Ended Male Plug Extention cord,+ Plug it into Any Wall Outlet...............<br />Or, If you need 220V,+ you have a Dryer or Stove, You can use a double-ended cord to power your house that way.........<br /><br />Everything is Ready to Run.............<br /><br />Just limit the load to that of the Generator,+ Cord..................

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Generator questions, help needed

If that generator's connected to the house wiring and the service power comes back on, bad things could happen. So be sure and heed what Boondo said, Pull the Big Main Breaker out of the Entrance Panel.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Generator questions, help needed

I power my house with a 5000 watt Coleman generator. I added a 240v tie in in my garage and turn off the mains. We use one or two top heating elements on the stove, tv, stereo, water (well), heat, etc. Just remember to turn off the stuff you don't need to have on and you should be nice and comfortable. <br /><br />I get about 7 to 8 hours run time from 5 gallons of gas (10 hp B&S motor). So be sure to stock up on some gas if you think the power will be off for a while. And be careful when re-fueling a hot generator. <br /><br />Mark.

 

[aspeck]

Re: Generator questions, help needed

What Bondo said, except I hate double mail plugs - I have the scares on my hand from one of them - burned down near to the bone and basically knocked me out for 18 hours - after shock and dance to end of cord, where if was finally ripped from my hand, I put ice on burn and went to bed. Woke up 18 hours later.<br /><br />I would rather you pull the main fuse panel out, or if you have a quick disconnect, through it. Then wire it directly to panel box. I know, it is more time and hassle, but it could save a life - yours or your kids.<br /><br />Ours here in the Training Centre is perminantly wired to an "alternate source" quick disconnect. That way when the electric goes off (and it does at least once a week), we only have to throw the switch to neutral, start generator, then throw switch to Generator. Turn on the lights that are wired in before the dissconnect, so when the electric comes back on, we are know it, and we are set. We have a 100kVA gen set, but then we are running central air, a computer lab, etc. Need a bit more juice than the average house.<br /><br />5.5kVA should be plenty to run most of your house. When you pull the mains, also throw off the breakers to the washer, drier, etc. Anything you don't need. That way you won't run the risk of an accidental overload.

 

[ED21]

Re: Generator questions, help needed

Some of the newer furnaces w/ electronics in them are sensitive to the quality of AC current.<br />Some of the small generators(Coleman) have been known to burn out microchips.

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Generator questions, help needed

The double ended regular plug will only liven up half your panel. If you use a 220v device like the stove or dryer, some current will flow through it to the other half of the panel and the devices on that side will be partially powered up. Basically, if you flip the oven on, the lights that were out will start to glow dim. Partially powering some electronic devices will destroy them. <br />No big deal, just something to be aware of.<br />The other deal is, you can only pull 1700W out of the generator that way. If you did the double-ended plug deal, it would be a better idea to use the electric range or dryer plug - that way you can use all 5500W and both sides of the panel (220v). But like other's said, you have to throw the mains. Unless you want to light up the whole neighborhood. And then the whole town (breifly) when they re-connect the power.

 

[BRG25]

Re: Generator questions, help needed

Originally posted by Bondo:<br /> <br />To hook it up, <br /> Pull the Big Main Breaker out of the Entrance Panel ..................

Keeping in mind that I'm electrically challenged...do you mean physically pulling the main breaker out of the box or just shutting it off. If you physically pull it out, why?

 

[ndemge]

Re: Generator questions, help needed

The biggest reason for shutting of the mains is: <br />#1: Don't kill a lineman working on the lines<br />#2: Don't blow something up when the power does come back on<br /><br />

Originally posted by Paul Moir:<br /> The double ended regular plug will only liven up half your panel. If you use a 220v device like the stove or dryer, some current will flow through it to the other half of the panel and the devices on that side will be partially powered up. Basically, if you flip the oven on, the lights that were out will start to glow dim. Partially powering some electronic devices will destroy them. <br />No big deal, just something to be aware of.<br />The other deal is, you can only pull 1700W out of the generator that way. If you did the double-ended plug deal, it would be a better idea to use the electric range or dryer plug - that way you can use all 5500W and both sides of the panel (220v). But like other's said, you have to throw the mains. Unless you want to light up the whole neighborhood. And then the whole town (breifly) when they re-connect the power.

 

[dhud64]

Re: Generator questions, help needed

Hey everybody thanks for your input. Here’s what we decided to do. We had an electrician come over and he suggested (and did): make about a three-foot long pigtail with a male-ended plug, this will connect to the generator via 75-foot long extension cord. The wire end was fed up through the bottom of the breaker box. He tied the green and white wires together and attached them to the neutral bar, and left the black wire disconnected. When we lose power we turn OFF the furnace breaker, pull the cover off the breaker box, disconnect the black wire going to the furnace breaker and wire nut it to the black wire of the pigtail. Viola! Even I can do this!<br /><br />We’ll run a couple of other cords for miscellaneous items, fridge, freezer, television, lamp, and alarm clock. According to calculations, amps times volts, we still have plenty of wattage for the microwave OR rotisserie cooker, OR crock-pot!<br /><br />Thanks for all your input!!!<br /><br />BTW we lucked out on the storm, so far. The generator never arrived as scheduled, but it will get here and we’ll be ready next time!

 

[Mark42]

Re: Generator questions, help needed

dhud64,<br /><br />If I understand you correctly, the setup gives power to the furnace only. Everything else is powered by extension cords from the generator.<br /><br />And you have to open the pannel and disconnect and connect wires for this to work. <br /><br />I think you would be better served to have a 240 volt line run to the garage or where ever the generator will be, with the appropriate generator 240plug ready for the generator to plug into.<br /><br />That will power the whole house, save you from making wire connections (and those wires are not to be bent much or they will break), no extension cords laying around and the convenience of a 240 line in the garage if you ever need it for rented power equipment.<br /><br />That is just my $.02 <br /><br />Mark.

 

[Indymike]

Re: Generator questions, help needed

Time to get on my soap box. ELECTRICAL WORK IS SERIOUS BUSINESS. If you want to tie a generator into your service panel it MUST be connected through a transfer switch. People can be seriously injured or killed by backfeeding the utility through your generator. Yes opening the main will prevent this but what if you forget?

 

[Mark42]

Re: Generator questions, help needed

Originally posted by BRG25<br />

Keeping in mind that I'm electrically challenged...do you mean physically pulling the main breaker out of the box or just shutting it off. If you physically pull it out, why?

The term "pull the main" comes from older boxes and some sub panels where the main safty is a fuse, not a resettable breaker. If your box has circuit breakers for the main, just turn them off. If your box has square things (about 3 or 4" square) with wire handles, then you pull them out to disconnect. That physically removes the fuses, turning off the main feed from the street. Same as turning off the main breakers.<br /><br />A side note, my first house had a panel with fuses and the mains did pull out. What I thought was an interesting safty feature was that if the mains were rotated 180* and re-inserted, the mains were off. There was the words on/off or open/close molded in so you could tell if the mains were in the on or off position. I think this was to prevent the touching of the live street feed side of the fuse connection when the mains were off. <br /><br />And another note for folks who put 20 amp fuses in 15 amp circuits: It cooks the wire's insulation. In that same house, the owner had put 20 amp SLO-BLOW fuses in all circuits. The house was wired with 15 amp wire. As part of the painting and fix up of the house, I replaced all outlets and switches. In almost every outlet/switch box the wires had run so hot that the rubber insulation had cooked hard, cracked and was falling off. Just moving a wire caused the insulation to pop off. That house was a fire waiting to happen. Seeing as the house was a small two bedroom ranch, it was easy to replace all the damaged wire from the basement or attic. I ended up getting an electrician in to put in new 200 amp service, breaker pannel and cables from house to street. The wire in the house was an early "romex" that was cloth covered rubber, not the nice PVC romex we have today.

 

[boatneck]

Re: Generator questions, help needed

If you're on a water well pump, be very careful if you think you can run it off a 5.5 kw generator because the starting current may be so high that the output voltage of the generator will drop, increasing the starting current and the pump won't kick in since the induction motor starting capacitor circuit won't have enough voltage to work properly. Your motor will overheat if you're lucky and the thermal overload breaker will prevent your pump motor from burning out. If you're unlucky, you will have to replace the pump motor--$$$. <br /><br />To be safe, I would not wire the generac into your home unless you do it with an electrician and permit and inspection. You can avoid insurance coverage problems that way if you have a fire, etc.<br /><br />You can run whatever appliances you want using extension cords. That way you know what's hooked up and what's not. I did it that way several times in my last home during ice storms and Isabel.