Backup Generators

[Mirror Lake's BB]

Originally Posted by gslpro

Geez, there are a lot of opinionated people on this subject. NOBOZO, all you had to do is if your furnace doesn't work using that plug, you need to find an outlet that isn't powered up, and plug into that one to hit that side of the circuit. When you look at your circuit breaker panel. Row one would be side 1 of the line. Row two would be side 2. Row three would be side 1. Row four side 2. on and on. Each row(or side) is 110v. Your 220 breakers take up two rows. 110+110=220v. If you kill the main breaker, no chance of back feeding. My simple fix was that I had one outlet right next to the box. I wired in another next to that, on the next row or breakers. Now, I turn off the main breaker, and I turn off my 220v breakers. I then start my generator, plug the two outlets into the two outputs from the generator, and viola, I am in business throughout the whole house. My furnace runs fine, and my fridge, and deep freezer are on, and I can watch TV as well. When the fridge or furnace kicks on, it revs up the honda, but has no problem in keeping it all going.
The Honda 3000 is ultra quiet, and gives you an additional 1000 watts of power over the 2000. I wouldn't mind picking one up. The fuel usage is also a huge difference between the hondas and the big-framed units. I use 1-2 gallons to get 16 hours, vs. most generators that I have seen run 7-8 gallons for the same time. Figure that out for a long-duration event.

Your description is confusing for those of us that know how a panel is laid out. Probably a foreign language for those that do not ("Row one would be side 1 of the line. Row two would be side 2. Row three would be side 1. Row four side 2. on and on. Each row(or side) is 110v. Your 220 breakers take up two rows." Huh??).

For simplicity, a row is horizontal and a column is vertical. The typical panel has two 110 v feeds; say Leg A and Leg B. Your Breaker "Space" Nos 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, ... (as numbered/stamped on your panel) are fed by Leg A, B, B, A, A, B, B, A, ... So looking at the left side (column) of breaker spaces going top to bottom would be fed by Leg A, B, A, B, A, B, A, B, ...and the right side (column) of breaker spaces going top to bottom would be fed by Leg B, A, B, A, B, A, B, A, ... Basically, no adjacent breaker spaces (L/R, above/below) are fed from different legs. As can be seen, a 220 v breaker takes up two above/below spaces.

I'm just trying to clarify what gslpro is trying to describe. I'm fine with his discussion. Since I have a 220 v table saw in my shop, I just back feed my panel using that receptacle using a 220 v "widowmaker". My wires are sized such that my table saw breaker will adequately protect them. Something to consider if you're feeding through a 20 A 110 v breaker with a cord capable of only delivering 15 A, unless the generator has 15 A overload protection. If this is difficult to follow this, I suggest that you shouldn't be back feeding.

As RLW posted earlier, this link is innformative regarding backup generators:

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ght=generators

Good luck.