Running well on generator

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Stonecutter

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I have a 1 HP Goulds submersible somewhat below 500 ft down.
I'd like to be able to plug it into a portable generator.
I'm considering adding a NEMA L14-30 receptacle just past the well shut-off switch, and installing a L14-30 plug onto the wire headed to the pressure switch.
Then when power goes out I could simply unplug from the house circuit & plug into a 10 gauge extension from the generator.
Generator is a Honda EG5000.
Does this sound reasonable?
 

Valveman

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I would put a female/male plug on the power wires going INTO the pressure switch. Then you would unplug from the main power line before plugging into the generator. Everything else sounds good.
 

Ballvalve

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Or shut off the well breaker, or use a A/C disconnect switch which are cheaper than plugs.

Start the gen first and then plug it in. but remember the plug IS HOT in the interim.
 

LLigetfa

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All this talk of receptacles and plugs and female/male plugs to and from wherever is confusing.

From the breaker panel, terminate at a female receptacle on the wall and plug a male ended cord into it that goes to the pump switch. When the power goes out, unplug the male plug from the female receptacle and plug it into a female receptacle on the end of the cord coming from the generator.

Never have a HOT MALE PLUG!
 

Texas Wellman

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Your Honda generator should run a 1-HP pump just fine as I have used one in the past to run many well pumps. I don't know the plug types you are using, but any 230V rated plug should be fine. Just make sure the pump is in the off position before plugging/unplulgging the gen plug.
 

Stonecutter

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All this talk of receptacles and plugs and female/male plugs to and from wherever is confusing.

From the breaker panel, terminate at a female receptacle on the wall and plug a male ended cord into it that goes to the pump switch. When the power goes out, unplug the male plug from the female receptacle and plug it into a female receptacle on the end of the cord coming from the generator.

Never have a HOT MALE PLUG!

Exactly what I'm doing, I just didn't articulate it very well.
Thanks!
 

Ballvalve

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Exactly what I'm doing, I just didn't articulate it very well.
Thanks!

Does not address the critical need to be disconnected from the PO CO system during use.

All this talk of receptacles and plugs and female/male plugs to and from wherever is confusing.
From the breaker panel, terminate at a female receptacle on the wall and plug a male ended cord into it that goes to the pump switch. When the power goes out, unplug the male plug from the female receptacle and plug it into a female receptacle on the end of the cord coming from the generator.
Never have a HOT MALE PLUG!

Good advice except when you have several properties and several wells. What I actually have is the gen set plug with the leads coming out several feet long with wire nuts to connect up the unpowered well in whatever way possible in an emergency. In these parts an emergency is a wildfire and anything goes to get the well on line again.
 

LLigetfa

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PO CO = Power Company

Yes, unplugging the pump from the wall receptacle and plugging it into the generator extension cord isolates it from the grid since it cannot possibly be plugged into both. The protection ground (except perhaps via the plumbing) may no longer be tied to the grid like it would it using a transfer switch.
 

Stonecutter

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Thanks LL,

Re protection ground. This could be a concern in the case of lightning or a short in the pump or down-hole wiring?
My pump hangs on black plastic tube, with 3 wires going down-hole. No metal plumbing, except in short connection areas to the tanks.
 

Ballvalve

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Go over to electrical and see the mess of ideas about gen-sets. Portable gensets do not need any specific grounding.

Most submersibles have no ground wire anyway, its a newer situation.
 

Texas Wellman

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If by newer you mean the last ~20 or so years, I agree. MOST of our subs here have grounds, and have since the early '90s. Anything with no ground would have been installed in the late 80's/early 90's or before. I can't remember exactly when we made the switch, but I'm pretty sure it was around the mid 90's.
 

Stonecutter

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So I did the preliminary hook-up today. I got lucky & never lost power due to Irene, so I have yet to test the generator's ability to run my well pump.

From the breaker panel, 3 wires enter the double pole 30 amp switch. A hot black & a hot white feed top terminals, bottom terminals run to pressure switch. Bare ground wire connected together & to ground on switch.

I ran hot black & whites to both hot leads on a L14-30 receptacle, and connected both the green ground terminal & the white neutral terminals together. On the 3 wire lead to 4 wire plug to the pressure switch, I installed a jumper across the ground & neutral, put black & white hot leads to the other two prongs. Used metal boxes, and made sure to secure ground/neutrals to box as well.

All appears to be working fine, have not yet tried plugging twistlock into generator.

Sound correct?
 

Ballvalve

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In a 240v 4 prong twist lock plug you have a white neutral, a green ground terminal and 2 unmarked which are ususally just brass. You need to TEST the outlet plug on the genset to be sure these co-incide with what you are feeding. The hot brass terminals should be 120 each to ground or neutral and 240v to each other.

White should never be hot. You should have 2 blacks or a red and a black feeding the 2 hot plug terminals and the inlet terminals on your disconnect box. And tape the incoming white black - unless you have a 120 volt pump.

Its probably best you dont plug it in. You need a meter to test the installation.
Your plug set must be in the FEED wires to the pump control box, if you have one. Never after a pump start and control box [I realize you are not doing that]

With a 2 wire 240v pump, and no control box, 2 hots down the well usually red and black, and a green ground. You might not have a neutral, and its not needed, but you can use it to hook up 120v circuits in the pump area.

You already have a disconnect box, so you do not need plugs anyway. This is why I use a plug in the genset with 4 stripped 8" leads coming out of a 20' 10 gauge cord. Black, red, green, white. Then one opens the disconnect switch and infeeds through the pump terminals when the disconect is open.

Plug a twistlock into the genset "bare" and test all the leads for voltage. Some of the chinese generators are known for wrong connections that can cause big issues.

If you do have 120 volt circuits in the pump house, the neutral should stay insulated and not be grounded, and run all the way back to your main panel.

TEST the connections with a meter, run it for about a hour with the pump full bore, and then you are ready for the next hurricane and not before.
 
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