OT - Electrical Requirements Needed For Appliances? (For Generator)

CTMike

DaveRichardson said:

Dream: a diesel Onan Genny from military surplus - those things will run forever if you treat them right and diesel can store for a long time!

Dave,

I picked up a MEP-803A form Ft Drum via govliquidation.com a couple years ago. It had just come back from a Tier 2 Reset at Letterkenny and had a whopping 9 hours on the meter. It also has the diesel fired block heater so that it will start in artic conditions. Best purchase I have made. It has a little sheet metal damage which is probably why it was surplused out. This photo was taken during one of my monthly maintenance runs. 

GoldenQ

I have a 7000W  gen that I use for emergencies by tying into a 220 V 30A set of breakers and turning off all things or breakers other than the refrig and freezer and well pump plus TV.   Then I cycle what I want on to keep the power level under control. I do not run the gen full time just when I need to recool refrig or freezer or draw some water.    I usually run refrig about 1 hr 3 tims per day and freezer i hr once per day and keep the refrig opening to a minimum.  Water well is run to draw dringing water into pitchers and for baths (Have propane for heating hot water and stove burners}.

fishlessman

CTMike said:

fishlessman said:

nolaegghead said:

Ours runs off natural gas.

natural gas or propane is the only way to go with a home generator

I disagree. I bought a military surplus diesel powered generator in an acoustic sound enclosure. Plumbed into the home heating oil tank in the basement - 225 gallons of fuel on standby. 

hard to beat a big diesel., might be a bit overkill but nothing wrong with that=)  i am just sick of pulling carbs apart on the little gas engines, the  propane ones and natural gas ones just always seem to work, even after sitting years without a start

Gulfcoastguy

I was in charge of installing diesel generators for the MDOT offices in the southern district back in 2003. They were Kohler units with automatic switchovers for when the power went out. We had them set to run an hour a month to keep the battery charged and everything lubed up. It was nice to have power, water, ice, and AC during Katrina and afterwards. Since we had both gasoline and diesel fuel pumps, we could always pump out another 55 gallons and refuel it if we ran through the 250 gallons on standby. They are still working though I retired last year.

jtcBoynton

fishlessman said:

CTMike said:

fishlessman said:

nolaegghead said:

Ours runs off natural gas.

natural gas or propane is the only way to go with a home generator

I disagree. I bought a military surplus diesel powered generator in an acoustic sound enclosure. Plumbed into the home heating oil tank in the basement - 225 gallons of fuel on standby. 

hard to beat a big diesel., might be a bit overkill but nothing wrong with that=)  i am just sick of pulling carbs apart on the little gas engines, the  propane ones and natural gas ones just always seem to work, even after sitting years without a start

Fired up my propane fueled generator on Monday to make sure it still worked.  Started and ran great. Think the last time it was ran was a least 5 years ago.  I like having 400 gallons of fuel buried in the yard.  

DaveRichardson

CTMike said:

DaveRichardson said:

Dream: a diesel Onan Genny from military surplus - those things will run forever if you treat them right and diesel can store for a long time!

Dave,

I picked up a MEP-803A form Ft Drum via govliquidation.com a couple years ago. It had just come back from a Tier 2 Reset at Letterkenny and had a whopping 9 hours on the meter. It also has the diesel fired block heater so that it will start in artic conditions. Best purchase I have made. It has a little sheet metal damage which is probably why it was surplused out. This photo was taken during one of my monthly maintenance runs. 

THIS is what I will have at the new house!!!!!  Awesome!  And I agree, sheet metal damage gives bada$$ character!!!

NPHuskerFL

The biggest thing to keep in mind if you're going to power your house with a generator is. A. If it's a portable don't put it in your garage and run it! Seems like it would be common sense but every year there's one or two that do it and pay the price.
B. If there is not an automatic transfer panel secure the main breaker or make it to where there cannot be a backfeed. Lineman can be killed because of idiots not doing the right thing. Your lack of knowledge or preparedness shouldn't cost somebody their life.
C. If you are running a portable generator notify your utility provider so they can note your account for their safety.
D.  Test your generator on a regular basis. There is nothing worse than needing it and not being able to use it. 

maso

@NPHuskerFL question for you. 

When you say secure the main breaker do you mean anything more than opening it to cut power to the panel from utility? Other than that or a transfer switch how would you prevent it from backfeeding? Is there another way? Thanks!

NPHuskerFL

@maso Shutting the main off is fine. The problem is people lose power and hook up the generator to power the house by backfeeding thru their panel and neglect turning off the main breaker off.  In the event power is restored this would possibly kill a Lineman. All you're doing is interrupting the switch IE shutting off the main breaker. Essentially that's all an automatic transfer panel is doing...interrupting power so it's not hazardous to Lineman. 

fishlessman

maso said:

@NPHuskerFL question for you. 

When you say secure the main breaker do you mean anything more than opening it to cut power to the panel from utility? Other than that or a transfer switch how would you prevent it from backfeeding? Is there another way? Thanks!

they sell a breaker interlock kit which is the cheapest solution. its just a sliding plate that locks out the main power while allowing access to the generater power. some of the transfer switches get pricey

maso

Thanks @NPHuskerFL and @fishlessman !

I looked at putting in a manual one for $250 but if one were to go the other route then I would have access to another plug for 220 power located remotely. I like that interlock kit. Exactly what I was envisioning! Like a lockout tagout kit. 

DoubleEgger

tarheelmatt said:

@johnkitchens

Here's a pretty good chart that you can see what you want to run as to what size generator you want to purchase.  

@bgebrent

CTMike

Actually to be in compliance with the NEC (as I understand it), you have to have two means of disconnecting power from your generator back to the main. Pretty sure just an interlock kit on the main won't  cut it. Again this is how I understand it, don't quote me, check for yourself. 

So what I did was install a sub-panel that I power my vital loads from. That sub-panel is fed from a breaker on my main panel (1st means of disconnect - gets opened when we lose power), via an interlock panel (2nd means of disconnect). If I open my main breaker then I have 3 disconnects between my generator and the main. 

Besides not killing a lineman, there are other reasons for disconnecting from the main. First, it will prevent your generator from trying to power up all your neighbors overloading it. Second, one of the first things linemen do after verifying the line is dead/locked out is to hang workmans grounds for their protection. If your generator is backfeeding the grid and they hang grounds - bye bye generator. 



Thanks