Generators

[DONNIE]

Any electricians on here? I'm considering buying a generator for power outages and am not sure how I would run my pool pump. There is no "plug" as it's hardwired into the breaker box. How could I hook up a generator in this case?

Donnie

 

[waste]

Donnie, while I'm certainly NOT an electrician, my boss had a generator installed on his house a few years ago. His is a propane beast, large enough to run the vital functions of his house, and it's run into the main breaker box with some sort of sensor that knows to kick on the generator if there's no power (he tests it by killing the main feed to the box). If you're talking about a gas generator that you need to 'pull start', I'm sure there's a way to - I just don't know how to do it (of course you'd have to keep the propane tank full or stock up on gas before any possible power outages in freezing temps )

 

[DONNIE]

I've priced the whole house generators and while I'd love to have one I can't justify the price vs use. I'm thinking about a $700, 8000 watt, gas, pull start emergency generator. Something to run the pump, furnace, a tv and a few lights.

Donnie

 

[JasonLion]

To use a generator with a hard wired pool pump you will need some minor electrical work done. You would have a transfer switch installed, which allows you to move selected circuits from utility power to the generator and back as needed. The generator also needs to be rated to handle the load from the pump, which usually means a fairly large generator.

 

[Molson]

When I had my electrical fire at my house in 2008, I had 2 generators running for a month. 1 to power the fridge/freezer, the other for the pool. I had the electrician wire it for 110 with a simple plug on the end, which I plugged in the generator. I ran it during the day, I believe it was a 3000 watt gen. Ran it perfectly. (and my pond too)

 

[Bama Rambler]

The proper way to do it is with an distributed load automatic transfer switch. The best way to do it is buy a generator with enough capacity to run your whole house and add about 30 seconds of UPS power to run it while the genny starts up.

A down and dirty way to do it would be to buy a manual transfer switch and a power distribution center (breaker panel) and move the critical circuits to the switched panel. Then when the power goes out you just go throw the switch and start the genny and you're off and running.

 

[lbridges]

And the way to kill (literally) your electric company linemen is to run it into the main panel, "back-feeding", while not providing a means to disconnect from the main service.

 

[Brentr]

And the way to kill (literally) your electric company linemen is to run it into the main panel, "back-feeding", while not providing a means to disconnect from the main service.

Always disconnect your main breaker when running a generator back feeding :-D I have an emergency generator with one plug in at the main breaker in the garage and I plan to put one at the pool sub panel. When you have a power outage you first need to disconnect the main breaker, then you fire up your generator and backfeed the things that are essential. I got our generator from Home Depot. It is a 7KW and runs everything except the AC units. I have a small window AC unit for this purpose. Hope this helps

 

[New2Me]

Most minimum codes require something like this - http://www.interlockkit.com/ if you are going to use a generator. It's a whole lot easier then moving circuits to a new panel.

 

[Bama Rambler]

I didn't know that existed but it's a wonderful idea. It's a bit expensive for what it is, but a good idea.

The reason for installing a secondary switched panel for critical loads is because a lot of people don't want to buy a large enough generator to run the whole house so they have to remember to turn off the non essential breakers, which of course they don't.

 

[Brentr]

I didn't know that existed but it's a wonderful idea. It's a bit expensive for what it is, but a good idea.

The reason for installing a secondary switched panel for critical loads is because a lot of people don't want to buy a large enough generator to run the whole house so they have to remember to turn off the non essential breakers, which of course they don't.

Good advice We lived on boats for 5-6 yrs and know the importance of power sharing. I do not recommend backfeeding unless your are very disciplined and fully understand what your are doing :-D However most people who tinker with RVs and Large boats are familiar with this

 

[New2Me]

There was a very bad ice storm (termed a Perfect Storm by the TV talking weather-heads) that hit the Western Kentucky area one year ago. Power was out in some areas for weeks. Temperatures were below freezing for weeks.
Generators, extension cords and male plugs dis-appeared from local stores, as people got desperate for heat.
Luckily, I know of no reports of any electrocutions!
Unfortunately, I do recall reports of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, and fire, from running and fueling, generators and heaters inside of houses and garages.
IF you are going to use a generator, be careful!!!

 

[Brentr]

Also please install Carbon Monoxide Detectors :-D The digital ones are $25.00 at WalMart. This is a must in my opinion