![]() Then yank the main feed hot wires off and cap 'em off. Or, if there was a disconnect to de-energize the main feed coming into the panel, I'd do that. Now those circuits are permanently rewired to run of generator only. When the power fails, turn the main off, take the cover off the panel, identify the circuits I want to power, pull their hots and neutrals off the breakers and bars, and nut them to the generator hot and neutral. Knock a knockout out of the side of my panel, run a cord from the generator into it, put a cable clamp on it. This has the elegance of making the "interlock" question moot, since you are de-wiring the circuits from the grid. Then, when the crisis is over, I undo all the wiring and change it back. I just use proper permanent wiring methods so it's OK to run forever. Very often I need a circuit to operate for a few hours. Yeah, it's legal for flexible cordage to be part of a building's wiring, if it's something that is frequently connected, disconnected or moved. And you need to put some thought into avoiding physical damage when the cord's not in use. You have to terminate the flexible cord in a junction box with a strain relief. So instead you can just use literally a cord and plug. ![]() First, they sell actual inlets, that mount where you please and look a lot like a socket but have prongs instead of holes. When the inlet is combined with the interlock, it is impossible for the prongs to ever be energized. You should not be using a normal socket and a suicide cord, you should be using a "reverse socket" called an inlet, and a normal cord. Things which take power have pointy ends, so "your house" should have the pointy ends. It is a matter of time before tragedy happens. You don't want to ever have a cord that has males (pointy ones) on both ends. Get us some pics of your panel, and we can see if there's an equally easy answer for yours. Even with the needed breakers it'd have been under $100. I instantly realized the Reliance was unnecessary, the whole panel could be switched with an ECSBPK01 interlock (go price that lol) or possibly an ECSBPK02 if >125A was needed. The long experience of accident investigators is that procedure lists Just Don't Work.Īs such, a line-generator interlock is mandatory.įor a lot of panels, this is actually pretty easy - I had somebody who had run out of circuits on a klutzy $550 10-switch Reliance transfer switch, and the panel was a Siemens. But when The Stuff Hits The Fan and the pressure's on in the rainy dark to get the lights on, fog of war, it ain't working, trying anything, or you're away and the wife asks the neighbor to help. And that will "light up" the linemen who's out there at 4am away from family working to get your power back on.Ī lot of homeowners get this genius idea that they'll just have a procedure: "Turn THIS off, then plug in THIS, then start the gen, then turn on THAT". When it reaches a transformer it'll just go through in reverse, so your generator will cause a 10,000V section to light up at 10,000 volts. It's absolutely possible for a generator to push electricity back out onto the grid. There MUST be an interlock to protect linemenĮlectricity is distributed at high voltage (50,000V) which is knocked down to medium (10,000V) at a transformer, then down to 120/240V at another transformer. I appreciate your help.But this really needs to be done better than what you plan. What do you guys think? I don't know a lot about electrical, and I don't want to pay an electrician for something that seems fairly straightforward. So since I can't find single 10A wall switches, I was thinking about installing a dual wall switch, that's rated at 15A. The breaker I used to turn off power to the switches is a 20A breaker. So after taking off the wall plate, it looks like they're two 10A switches. It seems like the switch wants to fall when it is in the on position, and proceeds to make snapping/popping noises if the switch does drop a little when it's on. I have two light switches in my garage that I would like to replace because one of them is starting to fail I believe.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |