On Sat, 23 Dec 2006 19:49:47 GMT, "Tom Horne, Electrician" wrote:

Doug Miller wrote:
In article . com, wrote:
Puddin' Man wrote:

I have a 21 yr-old Cutler-Hammer panel that I installed myself back
around 1984.

No doubt there's numerous houses in which an interlock kit would
make sense. But there's nobody here but po' me, and, to my knowledge,
I don't need to idiot-proof the damned thang. Before any gas
generator were connected, the main breaker -would- be switched
off. And it would stay off until the gen. was removed.
It's your choice. With my electrical utility, if you "tickle" a
lineman, they will stop work, trace down where the electricity is
coming from, cut your lines off, and you will NEVER get electrical
service again. It's a union thing. They will blacklist your address.

Sounds like an urban legend to me...


I was there in Silver Spring, MD during the late nineties ice storm when
the outside superintendent took a climbing harness out of the trunk of
his sedan and climbed a pole in order to drop the service drop for an
offending house into the front yard. They could not get power back
until a master electrician certified that their property was free of any
uncontrolled energy source connected to it's wiring. The home is now
powered through an manual transfer switch which the owner had to install
at his own expense.

I can't speak to either of these. If either actually occurred,
p'raps there was some justification, p'raps not.

How-sum-ever ...

Scenario:

Tiny house with obviously minimal standard residential power lines,
main breaker svc. panel in good condition. Single occupant, who
wired the panel, installed pigtails, etc. Lives like a hermit,
no non-service folks are allowed on property.

Elec. utility fails contract to supply power, massive outage ensues.
Temp. is "Nine Below Zero" (which is also the title of an old
blues tune ...). Obvious emergency.

Hermit determines (via past experience) that power could be out
for many days. Situates little 40A gas generator in back yard.
Switches main breaker off. Clips seal, removes meter, stores
such inside house.

Back feeds svc. panel via 40A socket on elec. dryer. Does "the
arithmetic of amperage" quite handily. Generally runs only 'fridge,
furnace blower and a few lights.

Utility supervisor arrives. Hermit offers to do anything in short-term:
allow inspection of svc. panel, shut down generator, hand over meter, etc.

Utility supervisor disconnects power line from house, nominally
because hermit is in possession of generator which could, if
not properly used, endanger linemen. Sez $1000+ of work must
be done on hermits eqpt (knowing noone is available to do it).

How to explain such action:

A.) Action was valid. No homeowner can be trusted in any circumstance
(potentially including the linemen and supv., as most of them are
homeowners).

B.) 'Tis simply customer abuse. We see it in both the public and
private sectors. The problem is on their side of the fence,
the emergency is obvious, but they, with monopoly power,
refuse to even talk to the folks that they purportedly serve.

You be the judge!

Glad to note that I've not heard of any such insanities hereabouts.

Salud,
Puddin'

"Every generator sold to a residential customer is another testament
to the inedequacy of one or more electrical utilities."

Pease pudding hot,
Pease pudding cold,
Pease pudding in the pot
Nine days old ...