I have a question about electricity/wiring...
Asked by
jrpowell (
40562
)
September 1st, 2007
For brevity I will use a generic example and not my actual situation.
Lets say I had a diesel powered generator and a normal wall socket. And the house is also wired as normal just without electricity from the city.
If I was to plug the generator into the wall socket would power transmit to other outlets? Perhaps to one on the other side of the room.
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3 Answers
John,
First you must shut off the main breaker to the house!You will lose in a battle with the power co.If you put a male end on a cord keeping the black as hot/white neutral and green ground you can power the 1 side w/110 volts of your breaker panel.If you feed 220volts that is 2 hot lines back through a double pole breaker it will provide power to the whole house!However you are limited by size of wire and breaker and remember NONE of this is code!If you are not sure of what you are doing you should leave well enough alone and use an extension cord for Emergency ONLY!
Be careful!Electricity treated improperly WILL KILL you and at the very least cause a fire!
Steve
To answer the question it will work. I have done it. During hurricanes I will trip my main breaker to off and plug my generator into an outside outlet. I get power in the home.
The safety issue is not whether you would lose a fight with the power company, you would cause the power from your generator to back feed the transformer on the pole. This transformer will obligingly multiply the voltage by 10 or 20 times. When someone works to restore your power, they could be KILLED!! Never apply a generator to the house without killing the main breaker!
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