This works. 👍 There's no need to nitpick anything else about this setup guys. Matt (and his VP) deserve props for re-doing this video. Most people would just delete the video and never speak of it again. But they "manned-up" and fixed their mistake. 👊 Risinger
@UCM8jWw6A_k1tCYxQehyfv4A Well, not having a transfer switch is a criminal violation. The power company can cut you off their lines. More practically, during the repairs, if a line crew sees your set up that can back feed, they will cut your connection to the transformer at the pole and you go to the bottom of the reconnect list.
I bought a Generac 7000EXL about 20 years ago. Still running like a top BTW. Back then portable gennies were identified by their continuous output, (mine would be 7KW), rather than their surge or start up output, (Mine would be12.5KW). Gennies on the market today highlight their surge output rather than continuous output hoping the buyer might think they're getting a more powerful machine.
Thanks for the full disclosure at the end. It's one thing to be an electrical engineer, but the practical side is what transforms the theoretical into the practice. Put more plainly, this is what makes "old hands" in any industry so valuable. Cheers!
@@highball7347 Consider your wall outlet: The wall outlet is female so the "hot" contacts, meaning electricity that could injure or kill you, is shielded. You can't touch it. The male plug on your light or vacuum or whatever is cold: the metal prongs, which you can touch, have no power in them. Now consider a generator: Should the cord coming out of the generator have a male end or a female end? In the earlier video, I surmise it had a male plug, which means the prongs were hot because they were powered by the generator. This is dangerous. You will notice that the current video has the cord from the generator ending in a female connector, which is safer, much like your wall outlet. Hope this makes sense.
We have used the czcams.com/users/postUgkxOTeIs0vv4_9B5hsmnLsk9r930uDQLu_Y for probably 30 hours with our camper and it’s been great! The noise level is really only noticeable when running the AC and other appliances like the microwave, hair dryer, or coffee pot. It’s not huge like other ones and it has wheels so even at 90lbs, I can move it!
Thanks for showing the correct way to do this it shows great integrity on your part and I have immense respect for you doing things the right and safe way 🙂
I was on generator for a couple of weeks after hurricane Ike. I powered my entire home off a 7000 watt generator, except central AC. I installed a 12000 BTU 120V window unit in the master bedroom. It worked great. I used the 220 v receptacle for the dryer and turned off the main breaker on the panel to prevent back feeding. The only plug I used was on the generator itself, I ran the cable through the dryer vent line and disconnected the dryer receptacle and used wire nuts to connect. The only other thing I did, was change my oil on the generator every day. Make sure to follow manufacturer's recommendations on oil changes. Our Generator ran 24 hours a day. Most anyone can make do with what they have but never play around with electricity.
Matt you rock! Thanks for explaining what happened. I recommend your channel to everyone that needs a roof over their heads! (Cave dwelling buddies have no internet)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"
I have a different brand of generator but your video explaining how to setup and transfer the electrical power from main line to generator was the most informative. Thank you much.
Much better. Good to see that you owned the mistake and fixed it. It's a huge problem of backup generators here not being installed correctly and safely.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"
I installed the same type of setup at my place. My house has a natural gas stove, furnace & dryer, so I can feed my entire electrical load with a 5500 watt unit. There are breaker interlock kits for the major manufactures that allow you to keep all the circuits in your panel. The propane fuel is nice so you don't have to worry about stale gasoline reeking havoc with your carburetor. Great peace of mind to have a back-up ready for when you need it.
Looking good Tim! You look very well sir. Matt, I vote to put Tim in more Build Show videos...he and I go way back! Great informative vids as always guys.
Bas l In our house we have a 4kw battery powered inverter from Aims that uses 8 golf cart batteries. It runs the critical loads like fridges and microwave, the pilot on the hot water heater. Here’s the magic... we can run the generator during the day and the aims inverter will recharge the batteries. Once the sun goes down we can shut off the generator so we aren’t “advertising” something to steal while we sleep.
@@ai4px I used to live in the Caribbean on tropical storm path 5 months a year.. And I approve your method because that's what I used there.. Trace Inverter with 4 6v deep cycle batteries.. Run generator to keep the fridge running during the day and at night the inverter for lights, tv and fans.. You don't want to sleep with mosquitoes.
Thank you for the shout out to the safety of linemen. That was always one thing we were always concerned about after a storm. Many people had generators and most of them were not wired into the house correctly. I will add here, that if someone gets in an emergency situation and they HAVE To connect the generator to their panel to power the house (or backfeed the house through a 220v receptacle, opening the MAIN BREAKER (turning if "OFF") will stop the generator power from being transferred back out onto the utility lines. Most utilities won't even care if you pull your meter out of the socket in an emergency situation, as it makes their personnel much safer. That being said, get a plan together to wire your generator as per Matt's video! And do it NOW, not when the storm is a day away, because the stores will be out of the components you need if you wait until the last minutes.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"
I DIYed this solution with the switcher box getting wired into the well pump and a few outlets and lights. Water heater(s) are gas/solar, so we have hot water. Pretty easy but we got help from a family member when we patched into the breaker.
I use a 4450 start up 3500 running watt dual fuel to power up my OFF GRID accommodations up in Alberta. 1800 hours on it and it runs very well. Cant say enough good about it . Also a CHAMPION. 🙂
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"
I have one of those generators, they are awesome. (I have the widow maker plug, so that gave me a chuckle) Last winter during a power outage the linesmen were replacing a transformer across the street and I went over to chat with them. They had a huge grounding bar on the downstream lines that I asked them about. It was for exactly what you were referring to - to protect against someone backfeeding the lines. They said it happens from time to time and they get a nice arc whenever it does.
One thing to keep in mind though, just because linesmen ground out the section they're working on does not make it safe. In a situation with downed power lines they can be confident that they've disconnected from the substation feeding it and have that grounded out but it may not be readily apparent if there's a break anywhere downstream of where they grounded it out. It reduces risk to the linesmen, but improperly connected generators are still a very major hazard.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"
The issue with not having a throwover isn't when the grid comes back-- it's when you start the generator and backfeed the dead grid. You're either energizing the original fault, or you're trying to pickup the load of the entire local distribution circuit with the generator. The generator's 220v output gets stepped up to primary voltage and supplies all your neighbors, too. Either way the generator currents going straight up! It's a whole different story if the generator and local supply meet each other - the sine waves will be out of sync/time relative to each other and the generator will likely be damaged severely.
exact opposite, the linesman know how to detect and avoid backfed voltage. When the grid comes back on, and you've wired your 240 straight into the mains without a breaker, it cooks the windings in the generator in a gas-tank melting flash and huge fire. Even with a breaker, it can still cook the generator. Disconnecting from utility power is a basic thing.
@@noampitlik2332 The meter is locked on by the power company, it would be so easy to bypass if not. You just disconnect the main switch/breaker for your panels that connect to the power company.
@@snap-off5383 The PG%E 'smart meters' here are not locked. While I don't endorse it, you can take it off or "tip" it. Of course, doing not during a grid failure will send a signal to the power company.
I work at a electrical parts supply house and we sold generators ( portable and fixed emergency standby ). I could repeat the hundreds of horror stories. --- I'll just put a dryer or range plug ( male prong end ) You said the obvious danger of a hot end but one of your comments was the quick come back, We have a check sheet -- I know to turn the MAIN breaker off. The store always made the point -- sooner or later someone will forget, screw up or not know.--- NOT ME -- Sooner than later you will hurt or kill someone. ELECTRICAL WORK IS NOT A HOBBY. Another thing I would tell customers - you don't have to run all the loads all the time. Heat the house then run the freezer and so on. IT amazed me the number of people that insisted on a huge generator ( 25 KW or larger ) so they could run even whole house HVAC. I guess people don't want EMERGENCY generators. Thanks for video , you or I could go on for hours [ male to male extension cords because they put the Christmas lights up backwards ] Thanks for education
25Kw GenSet. Depends on on frequent & long the power is out. Some regions are prone to frequent power loss. In some causes a large GenSet is needed, to run the AC to pull the humidity out of the house to prevent mold or other health issues, or they have all electric appliances (ie electric stove).
This past winter I installed a power cord to my breaker box, just for a emergence and I hooked it up to a 30 amp breaker because the generator is a small one ( 4000 watts at 3500 watts running capacity) I can run 2 window air conditioners and the refrigerator and my TV, cable and computer, or in the winter 2 heaters at 750 watts a piece and keep my apt cool or warm. In the near future I'm going to up grade to a 9000 watt generator! I have used this generator 3 times in the past before I hooked a plug to the house and ran just fine, this is more convenient the the way I did it in the past.
Where were you when I was doing my high school finals and South Africas electricity provider decided to take a wee brake of 11 months. I studied with a candle and teeny tiny solar light. Still aced my tests though 👍🏻
@@willagoateatit3298, They had what is called a suicide(?) cord. That's when the cord from the generator has the male (Metal Prongs) on both ends and can electrocute you, if not extremely careful. Hope this helps ?
august only an idiot, & their are MANY , YOU put BOTH ENDS IN BEFORE ANY POWER, is applied, I have a setup like that with only the outdoor INLET PLUG , the other end I’d some 50 ft to my subpaned with dedicated loads., before YOY yell about 240 volts, each .leg to neutral gives you 120 volts , cheers from NJ
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"
Back five years ago we did a 100A manual transfer panel upgrade for our whole house using a portable natural gas (NG) Tri-fuel generator 10Kw Nom-12Kw Max. It works flawlessly every time. Pro install, and powers the entire house like nothing ever happened. Gasoline and Propane require refills and the pumps to be working with power. When our power goes out annually in the winter, they are out too. So no refills if you're out. It's the best in severe situations, but obviously nice to have options should shtf! We have always been on Natural Gas because our furnace, range, FP, and hot water are on NG so it was a no brainer here. I do keep 10 gal of fresh fuel, and 4 propane tanks on standby just in case but when the power is out, the NG still runs. I'd be very curious about a Tesla Solar roof and dual wall batteries but the system we have now was already a couple thousand dollars and it just keeps on keeping things going, non stop. Max use was over fourteen days. And or utilities are under ground..Damn! The neighbors started coming over after a couple days wanting to charge their devices. I put an extension strip out at the and of the driveway with a free sign and a small camping table for their devices. We actually had excess power to share. Since then, most of the 6 neighbors have followed my back up plan.
Solar is the best way I think but pricey!!!!{ Not great for the environment ( end of life and manufacturing) not a great investment but cool to be driving around and heating and cooling my house from the sun} I was going to do the install and it was hitting 3 bucks a watt on paper. But endless " free" energy ( our whole house is already all electric) no fuel to keep no oil to change and no moving parts to replace.
@@johnbecich9540 In the NW. Cascade Foot hills. Everyone has Natural Gas here. Ideal for a NG Large Portable Generator with a permanent gas connection. It makes perfect and logical sense. Solar in the NW is not an economically viable or reliable back up plan in this location.
Thank goodness we don''t have the problem split voltage here in NZ and Australia is all 230 volt. When we lived up north in the cyclone zone where we could loose power for up to a week after a good blow we had a generator that worked on the same system they talked about we had an isolation switch mains/house and our connectors were a little different in that they are the standard plug we used to run power to caravans more like a 3 phase 450 volt plug and we had a solar power system installed as well so that took care of the house on sunny days and we only had to used the genny at night or when it was very cloudy
For my setup I have isolated switch for the water heater to run it, a portable ac live in the south and set up to run refrigerators and freezers 8700 watt fuel with 2 100lb propane tanks. Lost power for a week last year was still comfortable.
Really good point about backfeeding and harming a lineman it you are not using a transfer switch. Very easy for a novice electrician to over look this very important fact. Great video, great information Matt, thank you.
I have a Champion generator like that but it's the bigger one and I love it I never put gasoline in it because like you said gasoline goes bad propane never goes bad mine is wired so everything in my box can be used but of course you select what you need to use great video
Instead of a standard generator like the Champion pictured, I opted for a pair of inverter generators to connect to my transfer switch. Cleaner power and doesn't make my UPS units go crazy like they do when connected to a standard generator.
I personally think you should purchase a transfer switch that has space for your emergency circuits. What I don't like about this setup is that you have to turn off all the breakers and then turn on the ones you deem necessary this setup also allows you to overload your generator by turning to many circuits on and in the case of double breakers you may damage appliances
I used this type of setup for a couple of years. I found it useful, but a pain in the rear to drag out the generator in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm. Ended up going with a whole home generator. It will run the entire house, automatically kicks on if the power goes out, even if I'm not home. No issues with theft, as it's bolted to a concrete pad.
This is what I have in mind, housed the generator -and a propane tank, in some decent shelter and secured on concrete slab for some protection even during a storm, run permanent wiring to a converter switch (manual is sufficient) in the basement, just to have a backup when needed.
The concept is state of the art. Govts should make it compulsory for every home to have a transfer switch which is absolutely essential. Also the installation of this transfer switch is only around $250 for an 8 hour job...affordable
I’m yearning for an inverter generator that runs on natural gas and will produce at least 7000 watts. An inverter generator is more than twice more efficient (its speed can vary, depending on load) than the usual generator that always runs 3600 RPM. And, it is much quieter. The closest one I’ve found is made by Honda, but it doesn’t use natural gas and is not designed for “whole house” permanent installation.
Don't recommend leaving the cord coiled up if feeding the house. You would be shocked how much you can run with 5500watts. I never exceeded 3200watts on a 3k sqr ft house without trying to run ac,oven or the dryer.
"Don't recommend leaving the cord coiled up if feeding the house." AWESOME POINT! Many don't realize that a coiled cord, generator, or extension, generates heat. Depending on load, it can actually be enough to melt a cord, so, YES - What HE said!
I have this set up, with a 6500 watt Honda generator and a transfer switch that has a separate set of breakers wired to the main box. It powers fridge, furnace, sump pump and a few other outlets. It does not feed back through the grid. (I suspect this transfer switch would also not do so. Most utilities and local codes will not allow set ups that feed back through the grid line. I had a licensed electrician install mine for, I think, about $1,000. I’ve used it once in the two years I’ve had it. I’d prefer enough power to get the A/C up as well, but just not ready to spend the extra $. In any event, if you can do it and you have a generator, this is definitely the way to go!
Couple points, you were using a generator that wasn't necessarily high in running watts (5600W running on propane). There are 13500W peak (10500W running) generators that can maximize a 50amp input. With that kind of power, you can certainly power the vast majority of your house, for most people. Obviously that will be up to the homeowner to figure out, but a whole home wattage meter is a good investment in order to figure out how much your appliances use. We have zero issues running nearly everything in our home with our 10kW generator, and that includes an electric hot water heater. Now I don't recommend running a traditional electric dryer in tandem, but if you cycle your circuits on/off when needed, it's very do-able. We even de-rate our EVSE charger for our electric cars and can charge them, albeit slower, if needed. And we have a heat pump washer/dryer combo that barely uses 600w. Other point is that you didn't discuss the floating neutral or bonded to frame topic. For this type of installation, if your house is properly grounded, your generator should be in floating neutral configuration. Many generators come with neutral bonded to frame.
I believe this generator can also be converted for natural gas if it is installed in a more permanent location. Though if I were going to do that, I'd go with a larger generator that could also fire up our AC.. ;)
i ran into a case in a panel that had magnetic main breaker. they are usually industrial. it has a sense line inside that can backfeed even if the breaker is turned off. if you dont know what you are doing with electric leave it alone.
I am going to toss in some feed back. The install looks correct from what I can see. If you want a safer higher quality inlet box go with the Midwest U030N or the GE T030N (they are the same unit just different branding). The reason they are a better product is because when the cord is inserted they are still weather proof.
I'm doing the same thing too my Home, my Generator is on its way. An my Electrician will be installing it Professionally. Im doing Propane Mainly and Gas as my last fuel. Red Oak, Texas
I was the guy with extensions cords but after a few years of doing that and having to roll them 10 gauge 100 foot things back up I had enough. Had an electrician put a lock plate on my breaker panel and put an in ground service wire from my shed and a outlet so now I can just plug in one plug and pick and choose what I want to run in the house. Yep only run 120 items but it nice because if the weather is bad I can keep the generator dry in the shed yes it’s 60 foot away from the house.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"
Get on the Internet Google or whatever and go find Generlink. I have one on my house it works perfect my sons have them as well it automatically disconnects from the line coming in from the power pole, it has a proprietary cord that hooks to the generator and to the generlink which is between your meter and the meter socket. Look it up save yourself a lot of money in labor and it is a half hour installation.
Nice piece of kit, but at over $700, my D.I.Y. choice was a 50AMP plug inlet, 50AMP 2-Pole circuit breaker, 6AWG (4) wires by color & length, plus a main service disconnect breaker panel interlock kit. Total cost of materials = $120. (Interlock kit 1/2 price, used on Ebay). If you can do quality NEC level installs D.I.Y., the Generlink is a waste of your money. Put that cash toward your generator and accessories purchase. If however, you're not D.I.Y. oriented, and comparing the Generlink to a conventional transfer switch install at electrician's rates, then yes, it will save you $$$$$.
8:01 If you live far from the city and use propane for your heating and stove, you could install a permanent tap on the line from the tank to the home and feed the generator for weeks.
I went ten days without power due to a storm back in May of 1998. You can make it through three days without power if you limit and plan each opening of the refrigerator, but you can’t make it ten without losing everything.
For a few extra dollars you can also replace the propane intake to use natural gas. Most people have natural gas available and that makes owning one of these so much easier. I have the larger version of this one that's set up on natural gas and I can run one of my central air handlers/compressors on it. It helps to have two smaller a/c units, rather than one large one. Being in Florida and not having a/c is miserable during hurricane season. Something you didn't hit upon is that you don't have to run it 24/7. You can really stretch out a propane tank (or gas) if you only run it for an hour or so to keep your refrigerator and freezer cold. Something else that's important - Amazon and Ebay sell refurbished units for much less but they typically only carry a 90 day warranty. You might not even use it in the first 90 days you have it. The full-price versions with the standard 3 year warranty are a better deal. These are quality units but ancillary parts do sometimes go out. Thanks Matt!
Was keeping my generator from our camper for just in case for our house. Then I got tired of it taking up room, the maintenance on the thing even with it just sitting, and just more "stuff" Then looked at how many times we had no power over the years, and it wasnt worth it to keep to me. But if you lose power regularly, then a good idea.
Thankfully I work full time from home. With Covid-19 we can't go out and waste money at restaurants and there is limited inventory of virtually everything, money is accumulating in my bank. So I decided, among several other home projects, to buy a generator. I bought a 6500 watt Champion generator for $699 CAD on sale. I also bought the motor snorkel kit to make it Tri Fuel. My primary source of fuel will be natural gas (unlimited), followed by 3-4 propane tanks, in the widely unlikely event power and natural gas went out, followed by gasoline. My plan in the next few weeks is to install a Generlink switch rather than a transfer switch. Apparently the Generlink switch is more expensive, but labor is less, whereas a transfer switch costs less in parts, but labor is more... so in the end they pretty much equal each other. The benefit of the Generlink switch is all circuits can be powered. As my house is small and there is only myself and my wife, I can't see why 6,000 watts will not be more than sufficient to power virtually everything. I have all 9 watt LED lights. Would not use dryer, stove and our furnace is natural gas. So I figured 1,000 for lights, fridge and freezer and another 1,000 watts for entertainment and communication. That leaves about 4,000 watts for an air conditioner in the Summer if needed, a space heater in the Winter if needed or to power a hot plate or toaster oven if I can't BBQ. Oh yea and as far as the modified sine wave, I will be purchasing 3-4 small UPS to clean the power for my sensitive electronics (2 TVs with media players, media server and cable modem/router). To me it made more sense to buy a 6,500 watt generator for $699 and spend $300-400 on UPS rather than $1,000-2,000 on a 2,000 watt inverter generator. Yes inverter generators are more fuel efficient, but as my primary fuel source is natural gas, I am not too concerned with efficiency.
I would recommend a cover for a gen if you have to run in rain or snow. Gens are nice but can’t take water/cords mix in a blinding whiteout. I ordered a “gen tent” for my gen and it covers almost everything except exhaust. I also have a 50 amp cord hooked to the appropriate plug hooked to a 10 circuit transfer 50 amp switch. Your pricing suggestions are way lower than actual. Generator $600 40 ft cord $300. Switch panel $400. 6/3 wire $125. Outlet$50 gen tent$250. All parts purchased by me But hired sparky to hookup$600. Expensive but reassuring to know it’s ready to rock after tornadoes and blizzards here in South Dakota.
I have an interlock on the panel, preventing the main breaker and the 50 amp generator breaker from being in the on position at the same time, thus no back feeding to the grid. I have an inlet as shown in the video, and only have the breakers on for what I am wanting to run.
Same, here. Most cost effective. Most flexibility to manually balance electrical loads at my load center panel as well as change generator specification in the future for higher or lower load capacity, depending on user priorities. Whatever you all do, ALWAYS use a setup that isolates your generator power supply from the power grid. Save a lineman! (Also, if you zap them, they will find you, and you WILL get sued).
We have power outage in oregon too, we out of power 5 days, I used honda 2200i powered our house 5 days, pretty much everything works except dryer and microwave. Everything else like Refrigerator, dishwasher, TV, furnace etc All works
I have a cable running to my outside breaker box. It features a safety that requires the main to be tripped before the generator power can be turned on. Inside I designated all of the breakers that I need off with colored tape (ac/water heater/water pump).
20lb tank is ~4.7 gallons of propane, ~6.5 hrs at half load of ~3k Watts ... 40lb tank holds ~9.4 gallons at same load gives you ~13 hrs ... You say ~24 hrs on 40lb tank ... ONLY if you use less than 1500 Watts
...and you still have a cord with a 30 amp end for the generator and a 50 amp end for the inlet box (likely home made). Best to stick to 30 amp or 50 amp at both ends that match your needs and the generator outlet and then use a manufactured cord to plug the generator into your house.
For the cost, and having to go out for fuel, you may as well get a home stand by unit. It's actually not that much more money and it's an automatic system
Portable generator is $1000, installed, with the 30 amp cord and interlock and 30 amp breaker. Home standby unit is $10,000 to $20,000 installed. The portable makes sense for a lot of people.
Shows how things in ones environment seem safe enough until you show other people and it makes to realize. "Oh, ya this is horribly dangerous for no reason. I should fix that" glad you fixed if and told us.
Here in south Florida hurricane protection and automatic generators are the norm. People bury 1000 gal propane tanks, because builders don’t bring natural gas in, to power their generators. 25-30k is common for the wealthy to spend so they don’t loose power. I was out 9 days and 13 days after storms. I have a 15k gas , which isn’t cheap to run, that runs my house.
Gene Miller it’s NOT that they WONT BRING IN NAT GAS, there IS GAS in OLDER NEIGHBOURHOODS, SUNRISE FL is as far north I’ve seen gas, & way east , everywhere else is ELECTRIC STOVES, cheers from NJ
Question. What about the under utilization of generator power? I'm in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands. We went through two Cat 5 hurricanes in 2017, without power for over 3 months. We have a large gas generator that can power the whole house (5 units - two studios, 1BR, 2BR, and main house is 4BR/3BA). At the time, I was the only one in the whole home with this huge generator. I didn't use it because it was a too costly to keep running for just me. I basically used a combination of Ryobi tools (fan, lights, radio), batteries, inverter, and my car to maintain some comfort. What are some battery solutions that I could use to store the excess power the generator is creating so it's not just burning gas? Or is that even a concern?
Nice video. Can you speak more to generator grounding? Most portable generators have frame bonded neutral and ground. However, I’m finding out that if you run a house transfer switch, your generator should have a floating neutral, because the neutral is typically shared with the house and it is grounding through house ground rod. What could happen if generator is left in bonded neutral state and ran though house transfer switch and short occurs?
After hurricane Maria we were without power for over 4 months. My whole house was powered by a 4600 watt Yamaha generator. That one after some serious use for over 3 months, it died. It was replaced by a Honda EU7000i Generator that powered the whole house too, including a 24,000 BTU Inverter AC. Now I have a second one to combine it with with the Honda. .
In reading comments here and on the Champion site, I came across this: Hyper Engineering sure start soft start module. This seems like a good solution for limiting the start-up wattage, perhaps not just when using a portable generator, but perhaps also for extending the life of your larger appliances during normal usage. Have you any experience using this device, and does it work as claimed?
You actually CAN power your home HVAC on a portable generator as well. For the longest time I believed that this was out of reach because of the massive current required when the HVAC starts up. A 5-ton system may take 70-90 amps at 240 volts (~20,000 watts) at startup which is well beyond the 7000 watt startup power of many affordable portable generators. Generators that can deliver 20,000 watts at startup are quite expensive. But, then I discovered the soft start kits, such as the Micro-Air Easy Start which is around $350. The soft start kit added to the HVAC system reduces this startup load to around 30 amps which is in the 7000 watt range. And, after the HVAC system is running it pulls around 6 - 12 amps which is in the max 2800 watt range. Portable generators that can deliver this 240 volts at 9000 watts startup power and 7000 watt running power can be had for around $900. This is perfect because you want to load the generator at only about 50-75% load (around 5000 watts) which would be enough the easily run the HVAC, refrigerator, and several other outlets and lights. Remember, the HVAC system doesn't run continuously pulling a load, it starts up and runs only as needed to maintain temp in the house, then shuts down. An HVAC soft start kit is a game changer for running the house on a portable generator during outages, especially for the hot humid days after a hurricane comes along and knocks out power for several days.
Confused about the steps: connect cable, start generator, THEN throw the transfer switch? So aren't we feeding the grid during the time between starting the generator and throwing the switch? Granted, that might be only a second or two (or maybe a little longer depending on distance between generator and transfer switch or other distractions) but how long does it take for 50 amps to make it back into the grid?
How would you get this set up on a new build? If you were starting from scratch and wanted to do this. I know you already covered getting a big generator set up but that also means shelling out lots of money for a generator that might be used one or two times a year at most and might need to be replaced before you ever had a big emergency that really required it. My thinking is I would rather have the house set up and then get a portable generator that I can use for other things and as generator tech and prices improve, I can move up to a bigger/less expensive/more efficient one.
I was looking for a dual fuel new/used generator for many months in my price range dealing with @#$ sellers. I found a propane only with electric starter on Craigslist and I love it! Having a generator for a number of years I know what changes to have a different electrician to do. Having to ARGUE with him to add the garage door outlet was stupid! My Sear garage door opener is almost 60yr old! (House built in 1964) I plan to replace it with one that has a battery backup.
Who else is here because of outages in this once-in-century Texas snowstorm?
Haha ya same! i should’ve gotten that transfer switch last summer lol
Yep.
Me
Yuuup, and I bet the prices on these things double.
Yep
This works. 👍
There's no need to nitpick anything else about this setup guys. Matt (and his VP) deserve props for re-doing this video. Most people would just delete the video and never speak of it again. But they "manned-up" and fixed their mistake.
👊 Risinger
Much safer now!
I dont even know what the mistake was on the last vid?
@@beachboardfan9544 It's explained at the end of the video.
😄 Haha just got to it!
@UCM8jWw6A_k1tCYxQehyfv4A Well, not having a transfer switch is a criminal violation. The power company can cut you off their lines.
More practically, during the repairs, if a line crew sees your set up that can back feed, they will cut your connection to the transformer at the pole and you go to the bottom of the reconnect list.
I bought a Generac 7000EXL about 20 years ago. Still running like a top BTW. Back then portable gennies were identified by their continuous output, (mine would be 7KW), rather than their surge or start up output, (Mine would be12.5KW). Gennies on the market today highlight their surge output rather than continuous output hoping the buyer might think they're getting a more powerful machine.
Thanks for the full disclosure at the end. It's one thing to be an electrical engineer, but the practical side is what transforms the theoretical into the practice. Put more plainly, this is what makes "old hands" in any industry so valuable. Cheers!
@@highball7347 Consider your wall outlet: The wall outlet is female so the "hot" contacts, meaning electricity that could injure or kill you, is shielded. You can't touch it. The male plug on your light or vacuum or whatever is cold: the metal prongs, which you can touch, have no power in them. Now consider a generator: Should the cord coming out of the generator have a male end or a female end? In the earlier video, I surmise it had a male plug, which means the prongs were hot because they were powered by the generator. This is dangerous. You will notice that the current video has the cord from the generator ending in a female connector, which is safer, much like your wall outlet. Hope this makes sense.
We have used the czcams.com/users/postUgkxOTeIs0vv4_9B5hsmnLsk9r930uDQLu_Y for probably 30 hours with our camper and it’s been great! The noise level is really only noticeable when running the AC and other appliances like the microwave, hair dryer, or coffee pot. It’s not huge like other ones and it has wheels so even at 90lbs, I can move it!
Thanks for showing the correct way to do this it shows great integrity on your part and I have immense respect for you doing things the right and safe way 🙂
I was on generator for a couple of weeks after hurricane Ike. I powered my entire home off a 7000 watt generator, except central AC. I installed a 12000 BTU 120V window unit in the master bedroom. It worked great. I used the 220 v receptacle for the dryer and turned off the main breaker on the panel to prevent back feeding. The only plug I used was on the generator itself, I ran the cable through the dryer vent line and disconnected the dryer receptacle and used wire nuts to connect. The only other thing I did, was change my oil on the generator every day. Make sure to follow manufacturer's recommendations on oil changes. Our Generator ran 24 hours a day. Most anyone can make do with what they have but never play around with electricity.
Like the honesty that says a lot when now a days its hard to tell or even be like that
Matt you rock! Thanks for explaining what happened. I recommend your channel to everyone that needs a roof over their heads! (Cave dwelling buddies have no internet)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"
I have a different brand of generator but your video explaining how to setup and transfer the electrical power from main line to generator was the most informative. Thank you much.
Much better. Good to see that you owned the mistake and fixed it. It's a huge problem of backup generators here not being installed correctly and safely.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"
I installed the same type of setup at my place. My house has a natural gas stove, furnace & dryer, so I can feed my entire electrical load with a 5500 watt unit. There are breaker interlock kits for the major manufactures that allow you to keep all the circuits in your panel.
The propane fuel is nice so you don't have to worry about stale gasoline reeking havoc with your carburetor.
Great peace of mind to have a back-up ready for when you need it.
Agreed! Thanks for watching.
After what we just experienced, I'm definitely having it done this summer
Looking good Tim! You look very well sir. Matt, I vote to put Tim in more Build Show videos...he and I go way back! Great informative vids as always guys.
And make sure it's chained to something solid, as generators are in high demand during outages.
Bas l In our house we have a 4kw battery powered inverter from Aims that uses 8 golf cart batteries. It runs the critical loads like fridges and microwave, the pilot on the hot water heater. Here’s the magic... we can run the generator during the day and the aims inverter will recharge the batteries. Once the sun goes down we can shut off the generator so we aren’t “advertising” something to steal while we sleep.
U kno whats funny asf? My genie manual says to DO NOT anchor generator in case of emergency. LOL ya right. I lock it down.
@@m.steele5539 yeah fuck that.. Ain't no body is going to run away with my Generator. 😁
@@ai4px I used to live in the Caribbean on tropical storm path 5 months a year.. And I approve your method because that's what I used there.. Trace Inverter with 4 6v deep cycle batteries.. Run generator to keep the fridge running during the day and at night the inverter for lights, tv and fans.. You don't want to sleep with mosquitoes.
Very true
When personal ownership and responsibility is the gold standard. Excellent video guys.
Thank you for the shout out to the safety of linemen. That was always one thing we were always concerned about after a storm. Many people had generators and most of them were not wired into the house correctly. I will add here, that if someone gets in an emergency situation and they HAVE To connect the generator to their panel to power the house (or backfeed the house through a 220v receptacle, opening the MAIN BREAKER (turning if "OFF") will stop the generator power from being transferred back out onto the utility lines. Most utilities won't even care if you pull your meter out of the socket in an emergency situation, as it makes their personnel much safer. That being said, get a plan together to wire your generator as per Matt's video! And do it NOW, not when the storm is a day away, because the stores will be out of the components you need if you wait until the last minutes.
Great advice! Thanks for commenting!
That's the first thing I do, shut off Main Breaker. I do not want to hurt anyone, ever.
David Gagnon this is exactly what I did in 1991 when a massive ice storm hit Rochester, N.Y.
just install in interlock kit
Bought a house with a manual transfer switch. Didn't think much of it until we needed it. It was wonderful when we had a 5 day outage.
Just bought a champion 9500, and the peace of mind is awesome.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"
@@joeygibbs4775 Thanks You for that. The righteous should live by faith.
I DIYed this solution with the switcher box getting wired into the well pump and a few outlets and lights. Water heater(s) are gas/solar, so we have hot water.
Pretty easy but we got help from a family member when we patched into the breaker.
I use a 4450 start up 3500 running watt dual fuel to power up my OFF GRID accommodations up in Alberta. 1800 hours on it and it runs very well. Cant say enough good about it . Also a CHAMPION. 🙂
Thanks for the honesty! This is why I subscribe!
I recommend leaving a few minutes between turning on fridges to allow time for the start-up draw of the compressor kicking in.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"
I have one of those generators, they are awesome. (I have the widow maker plug, so that gave me a chuckle) Last winter during a power outage the linesmen were replacing a transformer across the street and I went over to chat with them. They had a huge grounding bar on the downstream lines that I asked them about. It was for exactly what you were referring to - to protect against someone backfeeding the lines. They said it happens from time to time and they get a nice arc whenever it does.
One thing to keep in mind though, just because linesmen ground out the section they're working on does not make it safe. In a situation with downed power lines they can be confident that they've disconnected from the substation feeding it and have that grounded out but it may not be readily apparent if there's a break anywhere downstream of where they grounded it out. It reduces risk to the linesmen, but improperly connected generators are still a very major hazard.
I've got six appliances that are a necessity during a power outage: refrigerator, freezer, well pump, furnace, water heater, and sump pump.
Would love to see more of this in the Caribbean
Matt, I was driving around in 9ne of the neighborhoods you had on your channel. didnt realize it until I recognized one of the homes being built!!!!
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"
Great job guys!!!
THANKYOU for holding yourself to the highest of standards!!!
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"
The issue with not having a throwover isn't when the grid comes back-- it's when you start the generator and backfeed the dead grid. You're either energizing the original fault, or you're trying to pickup the load of the entire local distribution circuit with the generator. The generator's 220v output gets stepped up to primary voltage and supplies all your neighbors, too. Either way the generator currents going straight up! It's a whole different story if the generator and local supply meet each other - the sine waves will be out of sync/time relative to each other and the generator will likely be damaged severely.
exact opposite, the linesman know how to detect and avoid backfed voltage. When the grid comes back on, and you've wired your 240 straight into the mains without a breaker, it cooks the windings in the generator in a gas-tank melting flash and huge fire. Even with a breaker, it can still cook the generator. Disconnecting from utility power is a basic thing.
@@snap-off5383 This may be a dumb question, but don't you pull your meter before the backfeed?
@@noampitlik2332 The meter is locked on by the power company, it would be so easy to bypass if not. You just disconnect the main switch/breaker for your panels that connect to the power company.
@@snap-off5383 The PG%E 'smart meters' here are not locked. While I don't endorse it, you can take it off or "tip" it. Of course, doing not during a grid failure will send a signal to the power company.
I work at a electrical parts supply house and we sold generators ( portable and fixed emergency standby ). I could repeat the hundreds of horror stories. --- I'll just put a dryer or range plug ( male prong end ) You said the obvious danger of a hot end but one of your comments was the quick come back, We have a check sheet -- I know to turn the MAIN breaker off. The store always made the point -- sooner or later someone will forget, screw up or not know.--- NOT ME -- Sooner than later you will hurt or kill someone. ELECTRICAL WORK IS NOT A HOBBY. Another thing I would tell customers - you don't have to run all the loads all the time. Heat the house then run the freezer and so on. IT amazed me the number of people that insisted on a huge generator ( 25 KW or larger ) so they could run even whole house HVAC. I guess people don't want EMERGENCY generators. Thanks for video , you or I could go on for hours [ male to male extension cords because they put the Christmas lights up backwards ] Thanks for education
25Kw GenSet. Depends on on frequent & long the power is out. Some regions are prone to frequent power loss. In some causes a large GenSet is needed, to run the AC to pull the humidity out of the house to prevent mold or other health issues, or they have all electric appliances (ie electric stove).
Thanks my friend
thanks for the info. I have to check out the other generators
This past winter I installed a power cord to my breaker box, just for a emergence and I hooked it up to a 30 amp breaker because the generator is a small one ( 4000 watts at 3500 watts running capacity) I can run 2 window air conditioners and the refrigerator and my TV, cable and computer, or in the winter 2 heaters at 750 watts a piece and keep my apt cool or warm. In the near future I'm going to up grade to a 9000 watt generator! I have used this generator 3 times in the past before I hooked a plug to the house and ran just fine, this is more convenient the the way I did it in the past.
If an electrician needs 8 hrs to do this job, find another electrician.
Should be a 2 hours job tops
With proper tools and a crew of two it should be 2 hours for sure
@@makatron 👍
@@555Trout as an electrician I can tell you it's a simple job as long as the breaker box was done properly
Lol if you can find an electrician that will come out to a site for anything less than 8 hours you get his number I need it!
It is a good practice to figure out the amps required when starting up/ running appliances before adding more to the generator so not to overload it.
Where were you when I was doing my high school finals and South Africas electricity provider decided to take a wee brake of 11 months. I studied with a candle and teeny tiny solar light. Still aced my tests though 👍🏻
Great video. We had a power outage a few years ago and it was 106 degrees and we melted.
Take 2, good job Matt
It looks a little safer this time.
Glad we got to see it both ways though.
What happened in the first video?
@@willagoateatit3298 they detailed it on the end of the video
@@willagoateatit3298, They had what is called a suicide(?) cord. That's when the cord from the generator has the male (Metal Prongs) on both ends and can electrocute you, if not extremely careful. Hope this helps ?
august only an idiot, & their are MANY , YOU put BOTH ENDS IN BEFORE ANY POWER, is applied, I have a setup like that with only the outdoor INLET PLUG , the other end I’d some 50 ft to my subpaned with dedicated loads., before YOY yell about 240 volts, each .leg to neutral gives you 120 volts , cheers from NJ
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"
Back five years ago we did a 100A manual transfer panel upgrade for our whole house using a portable natural gas (NG) Tri-fuel generator 10Kw Nom-12Kw Max. It works flawlessly every time. Pro install, and powers the entire house like nothing ever happened. Gasoline and Propane require refills and the pumps to be working with power. When our power goes out annually in the winter, they are out too. So no refills if you're out. It's the best in severe situations, but obviously nice to have options should shtf! We have always been on Natural Gas because our furnace, range, FP, and hot water are on NG so it was a no brainer here. I do keep 10 gal of fresh fuel, and 4 propane tanks on standby just in case but when the power is out, the NG still runs. I'd be very curious about a Tesla Solar roof and dual wall batteries but the system we have now was already a couple thousand dollars and it just keeps on keeping things going, non stop. Max use was over fourteen days. And or utilities are under ground..Damn! The neighbors started coming over after a couple days wanting to charge their devices. I put an extension strip out at the and of the driveway with a free sign and a small camping table for their devices. We actually had excess power to share. Since then, most of the 6 neighbors have followed my back up plan.
Solar is the best way I think but pricey!!!!{ Not great for the environment ( end of life and manufacturing) not a great investment but cool to be driving around and heating and cooling my house from the sun} I was going to do the install and it was hitting 3 bucks a watt on paper. But endless " free" energy ( our whole house is already all electric) no fuel to keep no oil to change and no moving parts to replace.
Where does Stewart live?
Natural gas and propane are cleaner and quieter.
Solar and battery tax credits are the ultimate way to go!
@@johnbecich9540 In the NW. Cascade Foot hills. Everyone has Natural Gas here. Ideal for a NG Large Portable Generator with a permanent gas connection. It makes perfect and logical sense. Solar in the NW is not an economically viable or reliable back up plan in this location.
Very well done. Classy.
Thank goodness we don''t have the problem split voltage here in NZ and Australia is all 230 volt.
When we lived up north in the cyclone zone where we could loose power for up to a week after a good blow we had a generator that worked on the same system they talked about we had an isolation switch mains/house and our connectors were a little different in that they are the standard plug we used to run power to caravans more like a 3 phase 450 volt plug and we had a solar power system installed as well so that took care of the house on sunny days and we only had to used the genny at night or when it was very cloudy
Thank you, this was excellent!
Mr Risinger,
Great video !
For my setup I have isolated switch for the water heater to run it, a portable ac live in the south and set up to run refrigerators and freezers 8700 watt fuel with 2 100lb propane tanks. Lost power for a week last year was still comfortable.
Excellent! Thank you!
Really good point about backfeeding and harming a lineman it you are not using a transfer switch. Very easy for a novice electrician to over look this very important fact.
Great video, great information
Matt, thank you.
I have a Champion generator like that but it's the bigger one and I love it I never put gasoline in it because like you said gasoline goes bad propane never goes bad mine is wired so everything in my box can be used but of course you select what you need to use great video
Great video,need to be safe,very informative
Excellent great tip I needed
Instead of a standard generator like the Champion pictured, I opted for a pair of inverter generators to connect to my transfer switch. Cleaner power and doesn't make my UPS units go crazy like they do when connected to a standard generator.
I personally think you should purchase a transfer switch that has space for your emergency circuits. What I don't like about this setup is that you have to turn off all the breakers and then turn on the ones you deem necessary this setup also allows you to overload your generator by turning to many circuits on and in the case of double breakers you may damage appliances
Turn off the main breaker and THEN START YOUR GENERATOR! Do the opposite when power returns!
I used this type of setup for a couple of years. I found it useful, but a pain in the rear to drag out the generator in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm. Ended up going with a whole home generator. It will run the entire house, automatically kicks on if the power goes out, even if I'm not home. No issues with theft, as it's bolted to a concrete pad.
This is what I have in mind, housed the generator -and a propane tank, in some decent shelter and secured on concrete slab for some protection even during a storm, run permanent wiring to a converter switch (manual is sufficient) in the basement, just to have a backup when needed.
This is so awesome!!!
Thank you for this informative video!
The concept is state of the art. Govts should make it compulsory for every home to have a transfer switch which is absolutely essential. Also the installation of this transfer switch is only around $250 for an 8 hour job...affordable
I’m yearning for an inverter generator that runs on natural gas and will produce at least 7000 watts. An inverter generator is more than twice more efficient (its speed can vary, depending on load) than the usual generator that always runs 3600 RPM. And, it is much quieter.
The closest one I’ve found is made by Honda, but it doesn’t use natural gas and is not designed for “whole house” permanent installation.
For the record,most heaters can be ran off an extension cord. Just about all standard gas heaters will have a pig tail(standard plug)
Don't recommend leaving the cord coiled up if feeding the house.
You would be shocked how much you can run with 5500watts. I never exceeded 3200watts on a 3k sqr ft house without trying to run ac,oven or the dryer.
"Don't recommend leaving the cord coiled up if feeding the house." AWESOME POINT! Many don't realize that a coiled cord, generator, or extension, generates heat. Depending on load, it can actually be enough to melt a cord, so, YES - What HE said!
I have this set up, with a 6500 watt Honda generator and a transfer switch that has a separate set of breakers wired to the main box. It powers fridge, furnace, sump pump and a few other outlets. It does not feed back through the grid. (I suspect this transfer switch would also not do so. Most utilities and local codes will not allow set ups that feed back through the grid line. I had a licensed electrician install mine for, I think, about $1,000. I’ve used it once in the two years I’ve had it. I’d prefer enough power to get the A/C up as well, but just not ready to spend the extra $. In any event, if you can do it and you have a generator, this is definitely the way to go!
Stephen Fotos you can’t run your AC on 6500?
Couple points, you were using a generator that wasn't necessarily high in running watts (5600W running on propane). There are 13500W peak (10500W running) generators that can maximize a 50amp input. With that kind of power, you can certainly power the vast majority of your house, for most people. Obviously that will be up to the homeowner to figure out, but a whole home wattage meter is a good investment in order to figure out how much your appliances use. We have zero issues running nearly everything in our home with our 10kW generator, and that includes an electric hot water heater. Now I don't recommend running a traditional electric dryer in tandem, but if you cycle your circuits on/off when needed, it's very do-able. We even de-rate our EVSE charger for our electric cars and can charge them, albeit slower, if needed. And we have a heat pump washer/dryer combo that barely uses 600w.
Other point is that you didn't discuss the floating neutral or bonded to frame topic. For this type of installation, if your house is properly grounded, your generator should be in floating neutral configuration. Many generators come with neutral bonded to frame.
I believe this generator can also be converted for natural gas if it is installed in a more permanent location. Though if I were going to do that, I'd go with a larger generator that could also fire up our AC.. ;)
My 7kW runs my central ac .... 4500W surge and 3100W running ...
i ran into a case in a panel that had magnetic main breaker. they are usually industrial. it has a sense line inside that can backfeed even if the breaker is turned off. if you dont know what you are doing with electric leave it alone.
I am going to toss in some feed back. The install looks correct from what I can see. If you want a safer higher quality inlet box go with the Midwest U030N or the GE T030N (they are the same unit just different branding). The reason they are a better product is because when the cord is inserted they are still weather proof.
I'm doing the same thing too my Home, my Generator is on its way. An my Electrician will be installing it Professionally. Im doing Propane Mainly and Gas as my last fuel. Red Oak, Texas
How much is he charging ?
Yes yes so kool.. I got to get one for my house..
I was the guy with extensions cords but after a few years of doing that and having to roll them 10 gauge 100 foot things back up I had enough. Had an electrician put a lock plate on my breaker panel and put an in ground service wire from my shed and a outlet so now I can just plug in one plug and pick and choose what I want to run in the house. Yep only run 120 items but it nice because if the weather is bad I can keep the generator dry in the shed yes it’s 60 foot away from the house.
Always keeping it real. That's love...
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"
I believe every new house should have a interlock system.
Get on the Internet Google or whatever and go find Generlink. I have one on my house it works perfect my sons have them as well it automatically disconnects from the line coming in from the power pole, it has a proprietary cord that hooks to the generator and to the generlink which is between your meter and the meter socket. Look it up save yourself a lot of money in labor and it is a half hour installation.
YT I agree, Generlink is the way to go. Much simpler and installation was 10 minutes by Lic Electrician. I was waiting for a Generlink comment!
Nice piece of kit, but at over $700, my D.I.Y. choice was a 50AMP plug inlet, 50AMP 2-Pole circuit breaker, 6AWG (4) wires by color & length, plus a main service disconnect breaker panel interlock kit. Total cost of materials = $120. (Interlock kit 1/2 price, used on Ebay). If you can do quality NEC level installs D.I.Y., the Generlink is a waste of your money. Put that cash toward your generator and accessories purchase. If however, you're not D.I.Y. oriented, and comparing the Generlink to a conventional transfer switch install at electrician's rates, then yes, it will save you $$$$$.
8:01 If you live far from the city and use propane for your heating and stove, you could install a permanent tap on the line from the tank to the home and feed the generator for weeks.
I went ten days without power due to a storm back in May of 1998. You can make it through three days without power if you limit and plan each opening of the refrigerator, but you can’t make it ten without losing everything.
Eat the ice cream first
For a few extra dollars you can also replace the propane intake to use natural gas. Most people have natural gas available and that makes owning one of these so much easier. I have the larger version of this one that's set up on natural gas and I can run one of my central air handlers/compressors on it. It helps to have two smaller a/c units, rather than one large one. Being in Florida and not having a/c is miserable during hurricane season. Something you didn't hit upon is that you don't have to run it 24/7. You can really stretch out a propane tank (or gas) if you only run it for an hour or so to keep your refrigerator and freezer cold.
Something else that's important - Amazon and Ebay sell refurbished units for much less but they typically only carry a 90 day warranty. You might not even use it in the first 90 days you have it. The full-price versions with the standard 3 year warranty are a better deal. These are quality units but ancillary parts do sometimes go out.
Thanks Matt!
Was keeping my generator from our camper for just in case for our house. Then I got tired of it taking up room, the maintenance on the thing even with it just sitting, and just more "stuff" Then looked at how many times we had no power over the years, and it wasnt worth it to keep to me. But if you lose power regularly, then a good idea.
Good work
Thankfully I work full time from home. With Covid-19 we can't go out and waste money at restaurants and there is limited inventory of virtually everything, money is accumulating in my bank. So I decided, among several other home projects, to buy a generator. I bought a 6500 watt Champion generator for $699 CAD on sale. I also bought the motor snorkel kit to make it Tri Fuel. My primary source of fuel will be natural gas (unlimited), followed by 3-4 propane tanks, in the widely unlikely event power and natural gas went out, followed by gasoline. My plan in the next few weeks is to install a Generlink switch rather than a transfer switch. Apparently the Generlink switch is more expensive, but labor is less, whereas a transfer switch costs less in parts, but labor is more... so in the end they pretty much equal each other. The benefit of the Generlink switch is all circuits can be powered. As my house is small and there is only myself and my wife, I can't see why 6,000 watts will not be more than sufficient to power virtually everything. I have all 9 watt LED lights. Would not use dryer, stove and our furnace is natural gas. So I figured 1,000 for lights, fridge and freezer and another 1,000 watts for entertainment and communication. That leaves about 4,000 watts for an air conditioner in the Summer if needed, a space heater in the Winter if needed or to power a hot plate or toaster oven if I can't BBQ. Oh yea and as far as the modified sine wave, I will be purchasing 3-4 small UPS to clean the power for my sensitive electronics (2 TVs with media players, media server and cable modem/router). To me it made more sense to buy a 6,500 watt generator for $699 and spend $300-400 on UPS rather than $1,000-2,000 on a 2,000 watt inverter generator. Yes inverter generators are more fuel efficient, but as my primary fuel source is natural gas, I am not too concerned with efficiency.
I would recommend a cover for a gen if you have to run in rain or snow. Gens are nice but can’t take water/cords mix in a blinding whiteout. I ordered a “gen tent” for my gen and it covers almost everything except exhaust. I also have a 50 amp cord hooked to the appropriate plug hooked to a 10 circuit transfer 50 amp switch. Your pricing suggestions are way lower than actual. Generator $600 40 ft cord $300. Switch panel $400. 6/3 wire $125. Outlet$50 gen tent$250. All parts purchased by me But hired sparky to hookup$600. Expensive but reassuring to know it’s ready to rock after tornadoes and blizzards here in South Dakota.
I have an interlock on the panel, preventing the main breaker and the 50 amp generator breaker from being in the on position at the same time, thus no back feeding to the grid. I have an inlet as shown in the video, and only have the breakers on for what I am wanting to run.
c edwards That’s good to know. I am thinking about installing a home generator, so I will make sure my electrician does this.
Same, here. Most cost effective. Most flexibility to manually balance electrical loads at my load center panel as well as change generator specification in the future for higher or lower load capacity, depending on user priorities. Whatever you all do, ALWAYS use a setup that isolates your generator power supply from the power grid. Save a lineman! (Also, if you zap them, they will find you, and you WILL get sued).
We have power outage in oregon too, we out of power 5 days, I used honda 2200i powered our house 5 days, pretty much everything works except dryer and microwave. Everything else like Refrigerator, dishwasher, TV, furnace etc All works
I have a cable running to my outside breaker box. It features a safety that requires the main to be tripped before the generator power can be turned on.
Inside I designated all of the breakers that I need off with colored tape (ac/water heater/water pump).
Thank you so much.
20lb tank is ~4.7 gallons of propane, ~6.5 hrs at half load of ~3k Watts ...
40lb tank holds ~9.4 gallons at same load gives you ~13 hrs ...
You say ~24 hrs on 40lb tank ... ONLY if you use less than 1500 Watts
...and you still have a cord with a 30 amp end for the generator and a 50 amp end for the inlet box (likely home made). Best to stick to 30 amp or 50 amp at both ends that match your needs and the generator outlet and then use a manufactured cord to plug the generator into your house.
Don't forget sump pumps.
And well pumps
I have a Reliance controls 10 circuit transfer switch. I have two 110v ganged together for my well pump.
thanks for the infos
For the cost, and having to go out for fuel, you may as well get a home stand by unit. It's actually not that much more money and it's an automatic system
Home standby unit: $15K - $20K ….. and could happen you will never use it..go ahead and install it 😉
Portable generator is $1000, installed, with the 30 amp cord and interlock and 30 amp breaker. Home standby unit is $10,000 to $20,000 installed. The portable makes sense for a lot of people.
Shows how things in ones environment seem safe enough until you show other people and it makes to realize. "Oh, ya this is horribly dangerous for no reason. I should fix that" glad you fixed if and told us.
This would be a simple set up for someone who also runs woodgas for emergency power. Either run straight off the gasifier or bottle.
Here in south Florida hurricane protection and automatic generators are the norm. People bury 1000 gal propane tanks, because builders don’t bring natural gas in, to power their generators. 25-30k is common for the wealthy to spend so they don’t loose power. I was out 9 days and 13 days after storms. I have a 15k gas , which isn’t cheap to run, that runs my house.
Gene Miller it’s NOT that they WONT BRING IN NAT GAS, there IS GAS in OLDER NEIGHBOURHOODS, SUNRISE FL is as far north I’ve seen gas, & way east , everywhere else is ELECTRIC STOVES, cheers from NJ
Question. What about the under utilization of generator power? I'm in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands. We went through two Cat 5 hurricanes in 2017, without power for over 3 months. We have a large gas generator that can power the whole house (5 units - two studios, 1BR, 2BR, and main house is 4BR/3BA). At the time, I was the only one in the whole home with this huge generator. I didn't use it because it was a too costly to keep running for just me. I basically used a combination of Ryobi tools (fan, lights, radio), batteries, inverter, and my car to maintain some comfort.
What are some battery solutions that I could use to store the excess power the generator is creating so it's not just burning gas? Or is that even a concern?
Nice video. Can you speak more to generator grounding? Most portable generators have frame bonded neutral and ground. However, I’m finding out that if you run a house transfer switch, your generator should have a floating neutral, because the neutral is typically shared with the house and it is grounding through house ground rod. What could happen if generator is left in bonded neutral state and ran though house transfer switch and short occurs?
After hurricane Maria we were without power for over 4 months. My whole house was powered by a 4600 watt Yamaha generator. That one after some serious use for over 3 months, it died. It was replaced by a Honda EU7000i Generator that powered the whole house too, including a 24,000 BTU Inverter AC. Now I have a second one to combine it with with the Honda. .
Smart!
In reading comments here and on the Champion site, I came across this: Hyper Engineering sure start soft start module. This seems like a good solution for limiting the start-up wattage, perhaps not just when using a portable generator, but perhaps also for extending the life of your larger appliances during normal usage. Have you any experience using this device, and does it work as claimed?
Hey 👋 Matt I’m curious 🧐 if you put in a transfer circuit panel on your real remodel house your building?!?
You actually CAN power your home HVAC on a portable generator as well. For the longest time I believed that this was out of reach because of the massive current required when the HVAC starts up. A 5-ton system may take 70-90 amps at 240 volts (~20,000 watts) at startup which is well beyond the 7000 watt startup power of many affordable portable generators. Generators that can deliver 20,000 watts at startup are quite expensive. But, then I discovered the soft start kits, such as the Micro-Air Easy Start which is around $350. The soft start kit added to the HVAC system reduces this startup load to around 30 amps which is in the 7000 watt range. And, after the HVAC system is running it pulls around 6 - 12 amps which is in the max 2800 watt range. Portable generators that can deliver this 240 volts at 9000 watts startup power and 7000 watt running power can be had for around $900. This is perfect because you want to load the generator at only about 50-75% load (around 5000 watts) which would be enough the easily run the HVAC, refrigerator, and several other outlets and lights. Remember, the HVAC system doesn't run continuously pulling a load, it starts up and runs only as needed to maintain temp in the house, then shuts down. An HVAC soft start kit is a game changer for running the house on a portable generator during outages, especially for the hot humid days after a hurricane comes along and knocks out power for several days.
Confused about the steps: connect cable, start generator, THEN throw the transfer switch? So aren't we feeding the grid during the time between starting the generator and throwing the switch? Granted, that might be only a second or two (or maybe a little longer depending on distance between generator and transfer switch or other distractions) but how long does it take for 50 amps to make it back into the grid?
How would you get this set up on a new build? If you were starting from scratch and wanted to do this. I know you already covered getting a big generator set up but that also means shelling out lots of money for a generator that might be used one or two times a year at most and might need to be replaced before you ever had a big emergency that really required it. My thinking is I would rather have the house set up and then get a portable generator that I can use for other things and as generator tech and prices improve, I can move up to a bigger/less expensive/more efficient one.
I was looking for a dual fuel new/used generator for many months in my price range dealing with @#$ sellers. I found a propane only with electric starter on Craigslist and I love it! Having a generator for a number of years I know what changes to have a different electrician to do. Having to ARGUE with him to add the garage door outlet was stupid! My Sear garage door opener is almost 60yr old! (House built in 1964) I plan to replace it with one that has a battery backup.
I was checking out the Generlink unit which is a lot simpler