LA_MERC_eX1|eS' ch1|d
September 2nd, 2005, 12:42 PM
My dad is an electrician and he rigged his house up so when he loses power he can plug in his generator and power most of his house.
That said I am NOT an electrician and know very little about electric in general.
This should only be done if you are comfortable working with electricity AND working in your circuit breaker box.
He tells me the easiest way to hook up your generator to run your house is to go to Lowes or Home Depot and get a double pull double throw switch that you would hook up just before you main power goes into your breaker box. That way you throw the switch which turns off your main power and switches you to backup. That is the easiest but he said that switch costs a fair chunk of change.
Since my dad is an electrician and used to working on a breaker box he just put in another breaker at the bottom of the panel that he only turns on when his generator is hooked up and running. YOU MUST TURN OFF THE MAIN ELECTRIC BEFORE TURNING ON YOUR BACKUP SWITCH IN THE BREAKER BOX. If you don't then your whole breaker box goes boom when the electric company turns your power back on, even if it's only for a second.
So he setup his backup on another breaker switch at the bottom which receives power through a female plug that hangs from his box about a foot. I'm not sure what gauge wire he uses to plug the generator into the breaker box but it's a thick wire, like an inch in diameter. That way he can have power throughout most of his house by choosing only a few breakers to turn on at a time. Really it depends on how much you generator can output and how much each of your breakers pulls from your generator. I'm no electrician but it's something to do with AMPS, vacuums, hair dryers, A/C units pull a lot more AMPS than pluging in your TV or whatever. I think most things tell you on the box how many AMPS they pull and your generator probably tells you how much it outputs.
Don't try this unless you are comfortable using electric and messing around in your breaker box. Obviously turn your main power off before attemping anything just incase your electric comes back on while your messing with it. Maybe someone else around here knows a little more about the subject and can explain it better, or can hook it up for those that don't want to try in themselves.
That said I am NOT an electrician and know very little about electric in general.
This should only be done if you are comfortable working with electricity AND working in your circuit breaker box.
He tells me the easiest way to hook up your generator to run your house is to go to Lowes or Home Depot and get a double pull double throw switch that you would hook up just before you main power goes into your breaker box. That way you throw the switch which turns off your main power and switches you to backup. That is the easiest but he said that switch costs a fair chunk of change.
Since my dad is an electrician and used to working on a breaker box he just put in another breaker at the bottom of the panel that he only turns on when his generator is hooked up and running. YOU MUST TURN OFF THE MAIN ELECTRIC BEFORE TURNING ON YOUR BACKUP SWITCH IN THE BREAKER BOX. If you don't then your whole breaker box goes boom when the electric company turns your power back on, even if it's only for a second.
So he setup his backup on another breaker switch at the bottom which receives power through a female plug that hangs from his box about a foot. I'm not sure what gauge wire he uses to plug the generator into the breaker box but it's a thick wire, like an inch in diameter. That way he can have power throughout most of his house by choosing only a few breakers to turn on at a time. Really it depends on how much you generator can output and how much each of your breakers pulls from your generator. I'm no electrician but it's something to do with AMPS, vacuums, hair dryers, A/C units pull a lot more AMPS than pluging in your TV or whatever. I think most things tell you on the box how many AMPS they pull and your generator probably tells you how much it outputs.
Don't try this unless you are comfortable using electric and messing around in your breaker box. Obviously turn your main power off before attemping anything just incase your electric comes back on while your messing with it. Maybe someone else around here knows a little more about the subject and can explain it better, or can hook it up for those that don't want to try in themselves.