Mark wrote:

"HeyBub" wrote in message
m...
Mark wrote:
Kind of hard to describe what I'm looking for here. I think on RVs
and 5th wheels, and I know on the 'beer wagon' get from the
distributor for our church festival, there is a 'reverse' receptacle
where you connect an extension cord to power the lights and such.
This device looks similar to a single receptacle with a flip-up
cover, but under the cover is actually a plug (male) rather than a
receptacle (female) connector. You plug the female 'outlet' end of
an extension cord into this, and the other end into a power source.
Anyone know what I'm talking about?
What I want to do, if I can find such a thing that would fit on a
standard exterior electric box, is mount one on the back of my house
with the wiring running to a standard outlet mounted in my basement.
I'd then be able to plug a cord from my generator into this, and then
supply my freezer, refrig, lights, etc. from the outlet in the
basement. This would keep me from having to run the extension cord
from the generator thru an open window in cold weather. Also when it
wasn't in use it wouldn't be too obtrusive such as a plain old wire
running thru the side of the house.
Any thoughts on this? Or other ideas for something along these lines?


Once you find the outlet, wire it to a new breaker in the box. This
breaker will normally be left in the OFF position.

When the power fails:
1. Flip the main switch to OFF
2. Flip this new breaker to ON
3. Start the generator

You now have power to half your house (or all your house if your
generator puts out 220 and you used a dual breaker).

You can modulate the load on your generator by keeping things in your
house (lights, microwave, etc.) powered off so as to not exceed the
capacity of your generator.

When the power returns:
1. Power down the generator
2. Unplug the cable
3. Turn OFF the new circuit breaker(s)
4. Turn the mains back ON

Thanks folks for all these suggestions. I may apply some of them once I
get the wiring for connecting the generator installed (procrastinated as
usual, but want to do it before the weather turns cold!)

I had even looked into something like you're suggesting H-B. In fact
I'm really lucky that when I had a new panel put in a few years ago the
electrician actually put the circuits in in such a way that my furnace,
Refrig, and a lighting circuit in the family room / kitchen, Master
Bedroom, and bath all fall on the same side of the panel! (Purely blind
luck I'm sure since he didn't bother to label any of these and I had to
go thru the house figuring them all out!)


From your other post "My generator isn't big enough to use a transfer
switch and try and power the entire house."

Why not do it safe and legal? A transfer switch isn't as complex as you
think. You can run the above mentioned circuits through the transfer
switch easily and safely. Only a very large generator would use a
transfer switch to power the entire house. You can get a transfer
switch that powers only 4, 6, or 8 or more circuits. Sounds like you
only need 4 or 6.