poor man's back up generator

[Lazy Gardener]

Wow! Don't forget to start up those generators now and then, just to be sure they're gonna work when you actually need them.

 

[Chic Rustler]

yeah. gonna make it a monthly routine to fire up the generator and power some stuff. just to keep it in good running order

 

[CrealCritter]

I don't "do" electric but that breaker was sure a fire threat! Scary.

It never hurts any to snug down all the breaker lugs periodically. Just make sure the main is off or wear a pair of electric gloves, else it will be a shocking experience 😜 Aluminum wire is horrible for loosing up, any time the wire is moved the breaker or main lugs need to be re-tightened. Aluminum wire also needs a good coating of "lux," which is a anti-corrosive paste.

But the breaker CR posted is burned where the breaker attached to the buss bar. So I suspect he is right, loose or dirty connection caused arcing, hence the fire that resulted.

I've seen some older main and sub panel boxes with aluminum buss bars. And those buss bars would need a coating of lux, prior to seating the breaker. But I think most of if not all new sub and main boxes the buss bars l are copper now. Probably due to a code change. But I haven't researched the code for that, so it's just my guess...

 

[Ead]

Wow, ChickRustler - it's great you know enough to do all that yourself! I'm hoping to put in solar but just starting to research it, early days yet...

 

[Chic Rustler]

so next I needed to work on a system to wire it all in. I could have bought a generator cord, generator plug, and transfer switch but that all adds up to a good chunk of change. I picked up a receptical that is the same as the 250 volt plug on the generator, 12 feet of 10 awg 4 conductor power cord, two male cord ends that are of the same style, a weather proof box and some other goodies. I also put in a welder plug in the shed while I was doing all of this.

 

[Chic Rustler]

this is the plug for the generator. it gives 2 hots, a neutral, and a ground. everything you need to power hour breaker panel just like the grid does.

 

[Chic Rustler]

here's the same type plug outside in a weatherproof box. the only down side to this set up is I have a cord with 2 male ends. it works to e but if you were to plug in into the generator while it was running there would be a risk of electric shock if you came into contact with the prongs of the plug. I wanted a male receptical on the wall and a regular male/female cord but I couldn't find one around town. so the safe procedure is to plug the cord in both sides before you start the generator.

 

[Chic Rustler]

so this was basically what I found when I opened the sub panel in the shed. it's a dang mess. a couple breakers had overheated and melted. there's no ground buss, they just tied all the grounds and neutrals together (not legit at a sub panel!) and just a general untidy rats nest.

 

[Chic Rustler]

so the top double pole breaker on the left is the one for the generator or welder. in the event I want to weld I'll turn it on and run the machine. when I'm done I'll unplug the welder and turn the breaker off.

here's where it gets tricky. in the even I want to run the house on the generator I'll got to the main panel in the house, turn the main breaker off and separate my house from the grid. then I'll turn all of the 250 volt double pole breakers off (water heater, oven, heater/ac, ect) except for the 60 amp breaker that normally feeds the shed, I'll leave that one on.

then I'll go outside, plug up the generator cord, start it up and then turn the breaker for it on. (upper left corner of the shed sub panel)

then it powers the house until we run out of gas

 

[Lazy Gardener]

You guys are speaking greek, but I'm pleased to see some good DIY electrical sense on this forum. Hubby is my DIY genius. Plumbing, electrical, carpentry, he does it all. I am super blessed. Our generator is similarly wired. He wired a receptacle in the shop to accept the plug, then, the power feeds back into the house. So when power goes out, he throws main breaker in house to disconnect from grid, then fires up the generator. When neighbor across the street gives a yell that power is back on, hubby reverses the sequence. I'm not strong enough to pull the cord to turn on the generator. Our generator will manage deep well water pump, oil furnace, lights, fridge and freezers. I don't run DW, clothes washer, Dryer when generator powered. It also does not provide consistent power for good computer management. But, we now have a lap top, so that's not as problematic. The only thing I have to add: Fire those generators up about 1x/mo. just to be sure they don't freeze up on you.