kmclemore wrote:Tahoe Jack wrote:At home, some folks fab a double ender male male cord, and when power service fails, kill the main box switch, and plug the double ender into any duplex outlet on a circuit you wish to activate....works fine...when power comes back on, pull the cord, and switch the main on.
Jack
Ohhh.. I'd be real careful on that one. Keep in mind that when you back-feed the system you're placing the entire load on a circuit that's only designed for what's hanging on it - not the whole house! Better to have a proper transfer panel put in - they aren't really that expensive and they will save you a possible fire.
Yes, do be careful. But, here's what I did when the power went out:
1 - Flip the main breaker off, thereby taking the house off the grid. This is one of the most important things you must do.
2 - Flip all the other breakers off.
3 - Plug the generator into an outdoor circuit. You gotta be careful dealing with a double male-ended cable. Unlike the regular extension cord, the male prongs on one side could be hot... You simply plug it all in before you start the Generator.
4 - Start the Generator. At this point, the guts of the panel are still dead, but the circuit side of the breaker is hot, so treat the whole panel as if its hot from here on out...
5 - Test that Circuit. Plug in a light or something to the same circuit.
6 - Flip the breaker back on for that circuit only, thereby backfeeding the panel, but just the panel, as the rest of the breakers still are off. Again, though, err on the side of caution...
7 - Flip the circuit for the kitchen, powering the refridgerator, back on - this is often the most critical circuit anyway.
8 - Flip the circuit for the furnace, if its winter and there is no gas smell in the house. If you have a gas furnace, this is probably fine, since the blower motor is typically a relatively light load. You'll soon know if its too much, as the generator will shut down. If you have a heat pump of some other electric only heat source, you probably don't want to try it...
If any breaker trips. Stop. Find out why. Unplug unecessary things on that circuit.
That's about it. Do NOT try running the whole house backfeeding through one circuit. The kids can read and do homework at the kitchen table.
When the lights come back on down the street. We just:
1 - Flip all the breakers back off.
2 - kill the generator.
3 - unplug the generator.
4 - Flip the main on.
5 - one by one, with a pause between, flip on each circuit.
If you are going to try to run more than the most basic stuff, then you really do need a dedicated transfer switch.
A couple of words about 120/240 wiring. Your panel is likely 240v (aka 220, 230, etc...) Each of the two insulated hot legs coming in to your house likely feed one of two buss bars embedded deep within your panel that you likely never see. Your double breakers, the ones that take up two full spaces, likely actually bridge across both buss bars. Things like Heat pumps, Air Conditioners, Electric Dryers, electric stoves, ovens, probably each have their own double breaker.
NEVER, EVER flip one of those double breakers back on if you are only supplying 120v (aka 110, 115, etc.) - basic wall plug stuff. This is bad mojo for many, many different reasons. The best case scenairo is that your generator goes dead before you let the smoke out of everthing. The worst case scenario is letting the fire out of something. What would likely happen is probably somewhere in between, but could very well end up burning something up... Its bad, don't do it!
Ok, if you have a generator that does supply 240v and you want to back feed, then you need an external/outdoor circuit that is also 240v. It is very unlikely the you actually have one of these. If you have something like an outdoor hottub, maybe, although most of these are probably hard wired directly back to the panel... Bottom line, to use that 240v, you need some way to get that 240v to your panel. Unless you really know what you're doing, this means getting an electrician to wire it up for you. Well, guess what, a dedicated transfer switch won't be much more, may even be cheaper...
You could theortically use an inside plug for an electric dryer, or something like that. Don't get me started on running a generator in doors (or even in the garage connected to the house). You can die doing that. Enough said. But, where is that plug? You could run a cable outside, but how long is that going to be? How long of a cable do you want to make for this project, cause you ain't gonna find one pre-made with the right connectors at both ends. Do you want to leave that door open/unlocked? You can't close it on that big of a cable (don't use cheapo small gauge wire). Even then, you need to keep the generator far enough away from the open door to avoid exhaust coming in.
Ok, lets assume you got your 240v generator feeding your panel properly. Is it rated to power your whole house? If so great, go find another thread to read... If not, then you need to figure out what it can and can't power. The loads that it can supply should be balanced between those two hot legs... If they are all on the same leg, then you are asking the generator to fight with one hand tied behind its back. Any unbalance is a bad thing here... But, the closer you are to rated capacity, the more of a problem this is going to be...
Back to the panel. You likely have two rows of breakers. Breakers across from one another are typically on different buss bars (hot legs). But, its not as simple as you might think because they typically also alternate as you go up/down a row. So, if you were to put your finger on any single breaker. The one accross from it, above it, and below it, are likely on the "other" buss bar (hot leg). It can be confusing, but this alternating thing is what allows the double breaker to provide 240v...
So, again, if you are running a 240v generator, properly feeding 240v to the panel, and its not rated for the whole house, then make sure that what you do run is properly balanced between those buss bars (hot legs).
Ok, most people trying to back feed are probably trying it with just a basic 120v generator (or a 240v capable generator using just its 120v capability). This is where you are using the basic 120v outdoor circuit. Well, the best you can do here (without getting really crazy/stupid) is to power the one buss bar that this ciruit is connected to. This means that you really need those critical circuits to be on the same buss bar as your outdoor circuit. Remember how the circuits typically alternate in the panel?
One last thing to keep in mind. If you experience a big city/area-wide type black-out, where are you going to get gas for the generator? If its not that big of a problem, wouldn't you all be more comfortable in a hotel/motel for a day or two? If its not a wide spread problem, then you should be able to find a hotel pretty close. Also, if its not wide spread, then in this day and age the power companies are pretty good at getting the lights back on quickly, 'cause they like to see the meters spinning even more than you do...
We sold off our big generator, which we never used except for testing. The hotel approach is our plan. If we can't find a place to stay in town, we're just going to take a last minute trip out of town... As for work, there is very little I absolutely can't do with an internet connection and a phone, most hotels provide both these days... As for the kid's school, if our power is out, so is theirs...
...Kmcl recommendation is the proper solution. 
when I questioned this I was then asked to leave the booth 
. But My pocket shure could so $1100.00 Can. versus $325.00 Can. I can buy three of them for that kinda money a budy of mine went back to the auction next month they had all kinds of makes of inverta's up for grabs but the kipors were going for $500.00-550.00 Can that day bigger crowd so more bidders.
