On Jun 14, 2:57 pm, metspitzer wrote:
On Sat, 14 Jun 2008 09:10:34 -0600, Robert Neville
wrote:





metspitzer wrote:

Furthermore, backfeeding a house circuit through an outlet is about the
stupidest thing you can do. If it only affected your house, I'd say go for it
and what what happens when your insurance company refuses to pay out any claims.
Seeing the legal prosecution for endangering emergency workers would also be fun
if it wasn't for the potential threat to their life.

Backfeeding your house with a generator is a wise thing to do if you
have a transfer switch.

It is dangerous, without one, for many reasons.

You need to read a bit closer. I said that backfeeding a house _through an
outlet_ is about the stupidest thing you can do. There is no way to wire a
transfer switch into an outlet.

It is common to use an outlet made especially for this purpose. It
has a special male plug that has a dead front.

This assures there are no live pins on any of the cords while you are
using the generator. It is not the famous "suicide cord"





http://www.tampabay.com/features/hom...icle622473.ece

That is a link to a column in today's St. Pete Times which is titled
Standby generator keeps the power going".... and has some good
information.

Two of my neighbors have the portable generators with "kits" which are
connected to the main circuit breaker box. I believe they had to buy
a special cord (like one a poster mentioned in the Home Depot link).
My portable generator came with an extension cord to be used if I
don't install one of the special kits. Anyway, the original poster
would do well to get a licensed electrician to inspect his setup. It
is likely the home seller took the generator with him along with the
cord that connects the kit to the main circuit breaker. One of my
neighbors is a licensed electrician and his setup is very plain and
simple. The other is a widow who frequently is sold lots of
expensive stuff when something simple would work as well ... and her
setup is very fancy and has a cord like the one shown in the Home
Depot picture. There were no visible cords showing on the man's but I
think he probably just unplugged it and put it in the cabinet. He did
say that he was also able to run an extension cord from his box to the
house across the street in addition to having certain designated
outlets inside his house run off the generator.