On 26 Sep 2005 15:39:22 -0700, jim rozen
wrote:

In article , Don Foreman says...


We have a Danfoss propane reefer in the truck camper, but the freezer
is just adequate to make a few ice cubes. I think I want a genny
that makes 220 so I can just pull the main breaker, plug the genny
into a welder outlet and power the house, being very selective about
loads of course.

Interesting approach. I would worry of course that the main might
be stuck closed for some unlikely reason. If you *do* go about
doing something illicit like this, you might want to pull *all*
the breakers in the panel, and then test across both poles of the
main with a proper wigger tester that measures continuity on hot
stuff. Then close the load breakers and tie in.

That way you'll be sure the main is open and nobody can get hurt.

And of course, tag the main out so nobody shows up and flips it
closed at a 'bad' time.

*If* you were thinking of doing this, hypothetically speaking and all.

Jim
My neighbor set up his generator in the above method. I told him it
was a bad idea. Someone could get hurt. He used a cord with male plugs
on both ends. Instead of having the one in the house male. Which would
seem to be the way it should be set up, if at all, because the house
is disconnected from the mains and so there would be no power present
at the plug unless it was covered by, and connected to, the generator
receptacle. I didn't help him because it's dangerous. I did tell him
how I would do it if I had to. Anyway, he's at work, and we are having
a windstorm and the power is turning off and on. His wife calls and
asks me to start the generator (she's not so strong) so it will be
running when the power goes out and all she has to do is throw the
switch that disconnects the house from the mains and connects the
generator. I get the generator started and she hands me the cord. It
won't fit into the genny receptacle because one of the blades on the
plug is slightly bent. So I grab the goddamned thing and it shock the
**** out of me! My neighbor had wired the thing up so two switches had
to be thrown and his wife had only thrown one! He had it set up so you
had to throw the main breaker off and then turn on another breaker
toconnect certain circuits. I was so stupid to grab the blade on that
plug. Especially after I had told him what NOT to do, and how to wire
it so that there was no way he could backfeed the mains. Of course he
was gonna do it the wrong way and I should have known better. It's too
bad the plug didn't slide right in to the generator. Because if it did
there would have probably destroyed the generator. I'm still ****ed
about how stupid I was, and how stupid my neighbor is.
ERS