How to Hook Portable Generator to House Well Pump.....

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DonL

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On a side note, if you look at the picture I posted, I discovered a little bit of water on the grounding screws. It seems it is leaking up through the valve underneath it. I'm assuming this isn't a good thing?


May not be a bad Idea to replace the switch.
 

DonL

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Not inconsistent, in my opinion.. I said yes to "Should I hook the generator lines to the contact points for the cable on the right (the one from the circuit breaker)".

The two wires from the cable from the breaker should be lifted and replaced by the two hot wires from the generator. Those would be L1 and L2.


I did not mean to confuse things.

I just like people to understand what they are doing.

Connecting 220V to the two right side connections make smoke, or pops a fuse if you are lucky.
 

DonL

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DonL, no big deal. I really appreciate the advice.


It is great that you are getting ready for it.

I have to do the same here during a Hurricane.

I do not have to freeze my ass off doing it, so it is a bit better.

Houston sent a bunch or our Electric Company crews your way to help out.


Good Luck, Keep us informed of how it goes, If you have a internet connection. I rely on dial up and ham radio during a hurricane.
 
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Badulah

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I believe in being prepared. I'm not a doomsday prepper, but being self sufficient for 7 to 10 days never hurts. My concern here was that I was going to have to figure all of this out in the dark, and that could have lead to me making the wrong connections, which would not have been good. I now have everything labeled with masking tape so that I won't skip any steps or make any mistakes if and when I have to do this.

I have a cable modem, but I also have 4G on my smartphone, so I will be able to post if the power goes out. We live on the Chesapeake in Maryland. Our forecast is heavy snow later on this evening, possibly turning to rain / freezing rain tomorrow and then back to snow tomorrow afternoon. They said our total accumulation is somewhere between 7 and 12 inches, but who really knows? Weatherman heave a great job: They are rarely correct, they get paid even if they are wrong, no one really expects much from them and they get to be on television. I clearly went in to the wrong line of work.

My concern with this storm is ice and heavy snow build up on the power lines. If that brings them down, I can at least rely on the info I got here. Ya gotta love the internet! What a great source of information.
 

DonL

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I shut my main breaker and back feed through my dryer outlet. This way I can run anything in the house I want although not at the same time.


I tried doing that once and my Pump Motor started smoking, Because of the voltage drop.

I would not recommend doing that.

Sometimes we do some crazy stuff, but it should be safety first, If you have a family that depends on you.


Sometimes playing with electricity, You may not get a second chance.
 

Badulah

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Sometimes playing with electricity, You may not get a second chance.

This is why I want a professional to install a transfer switch in the spring.

So far we haven't lost power. We have been really lucky. Our area only got about 5 inches of snow before it turned over to rain / freezing rain early this morning. The rain mix is supposed to continue for a few more hours and then it is supposed to turn back to snow. Some areas north of us have gotten 14+ inches of snow, and a lot of people are without power north of Baltimore. Hopefully our luck will hold. (knock on wood).
 

DonL

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Yea I think the worst is yet to come, when the snow on the trees turn to ice, and it gets very heavy. The trees are bad about taking down power lines.

I lost a few trees here this year do to a small ice storm. Luckily they were in the back forty, and now I have spare firewood if needed.

I just knock on my head.


Good Luck.
 
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Ballvalve

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You can back feed the whole house if you turn off the MAIN breaker. But like Don said, that is not safe because of possible user error. Even the extra disconnect between the breaker panel and the pump could be turned on accidentally. (not good)

I would use the plug method until the electrician gets a real transfer switch working. You just need to disconnect the pump from the extra disconnect. Use that wire as the extension cord and put a male plug on it. Then add a female plug under the extra disconnect like the one on the generator. That way it can only be plugged into one thing at a time.

I like that backfeed the whole house through the panel. When the flames were 200' high around my house, thats exactly what I did a few hours before, and I was the only house left standing in the area. But YES it need BRAINS or you fry you or your genset. Gotta turn off most everything, and then slowly turn on the breakers you need - pump first. Long ago had this debate in the electrical forum, where the op went zonkers at the thought of backfeeding a panel. Well, hello! works great in an emergency and if you have the smarts to even think about doing it, then you will likely get it right. The rest of you can get a propane standby Kohler for 6 grand with auto switches that allow you to stay in the recliner when the sh hits the fan.
 
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