? connecting 120V 30A generator to the house panel...

On my generator, I have the neutral bond removed and I saved the jumper wire, which I would reinstall if I ever sold the generator to some. I also put a tag on the generator which states that the neutral/ground bond HAS BEEN REMOVED, My generator has one purpose in life.....to provide temporary power to my house in case of a power outage from the utility company that lasts long enough for me to need to have some power.....really hot outside, really cold outside, or an extended outage that looks like it might go on for hours and hours. My generator also weighs in at just under 400 lbs when fully fueled, so even though it's on wheels, it's not exactly "portable". But if I chose to roll it up on the flatbed trailer and take it with me to a .......construction site, or the local track, or anyplace besides where it is currently used, the neutral bond jumper would need to be put back in place and make it a neutral bonded generator again.......and then removed if I'm going to use it as a temporary power supply for my house. It's all about safety and well being, and there's a proper way to do it, and hacks that endanger yourself and others.

 

Excellent!

It says right on my Genny, Nuetral-floating!

Thank you so much for this. I can see right in my breaker panel the the nuetral and grounding bars ARE bonded together. Built in 1990.
I'm will be using all the correct stuff- 10 ga wire, interlock switch for the breakers, 30A breaker from the Genny, only running the Genny outdoors, etc.

 

Thanks again.
My Genny a new Generac 3600W watt 30A output, was bought primarly for taking to the track and primarily for my tire warmers, help charge the phone, etc. It could run up to 3 sets of warmers, and has run 2 sets to help someone else out pitted near me at Road America last season.
It clearly says right on my Generator that it's Nuetral-floating ground. It has worked well at the track w/o and problems thus far, actually one season.

I figured I could also run my panel off of it when need as you describe for family comfort and also to maintain my large Reef tank I also have in my home. We rarely need/use the A/C- the only 240V appliance left in my home really. The range and dryer are gas. All lights LED's, etc.

 

OK, I'm going to go a little deeper in this, so bear with me. First, if you are going to be using the generator to provide power to anything electronics....computers, cell phone chargers, etc, you need to pay close attention to the generator's THD........which stands for Total Harmonic Distortion. That is an indicator of how "clean" or "dirty" the generated power is. A typical utility company bringing power to your home will provide power that is less than 5 THD, and with regard to THD, the lower the number the better/cleaner the power is. I've seen a lot of generators that will state <25 THD. That is incredibly "dirty" power and will quickly destroy sensitive electronics.....so 5 THD is a good number to shoot for and lower is better. Having said that, almost all inverter style generators will be very, very low THD....think 1 or maybe 2.....very clean power. If your generator is an inverter style, you should be good to go. If it's not, do some checking to find out what the advertised THD is for your generator, and if it seems kind of high, maybe stay away from plugging any of your electronic stuff into it.

Next....the floating neutral vs. neutral/ground bonding. When you are using the generator at home to tie into your breaker panel, the floating neutral is the way to go, as I stated earlier. But when you are using it for camping, TRACK DAYS/RACING events, etc, like you would be doing at the track, you might want to think about, and I strongly encourage, get yourself a neutral bonding plug to plug into one of the 120VAC outlets on the generator. You can buy them at any place that sells generators and/or supplies, or you can make your own. I'm going to again, provide a link with some info about doing just that. The bonding plug pretty much keeps you from having to drive a ground rod, and just as importantly, it's easily removable from the generator when you get home and need to use the generator for supplying power to your house. So floating neutral when you are hooked up to the house, bonded neutral when you are using it for anything else. Hope all this info helps a bit. Using the bonding plug is not an absolute necessity, but if by chance there is an electrical fault to something that you have plugged into the generator, the bonding plug provide a fault current path instead of you. Read the article, they do a much better job of explaining it than I do......plus my fingers are tired! LOL

One final thought....Always go by the generator manufacturer's guidelines as far as grounding or not, and what is the proper/correct method that they recommend for YOUR particular model of generator.

https://www.electronicshub.org/do-i-need-to-ground-my-generator-when-camping/

 

Thanks again.

My Generator has a gounding wire to the Genny frame. But the Wheels and feet probbly keep that from grounding to the ground itself though.

It only says Neutral/Floating at my Round 120V/30A RV receiver area.
The other 4 plugs are the standard 3 prong type, and are 20A.

So far, the Genny has worked flawlessly at the Track/campsite/pit area. I only use the standard 3 prong plugs at my Pits. - so 20A

 

Ok, so I took a picture of my panel and the bonded nuetral and grounds.



I also observed that all the wires going out from the breakers, while different gauges depending on the amps, there is only one hot wire on the 120's, and 2 on the 220's.

So, I only bought 10-2 wire to go to my receiver to put my geeny power into the system? If the nuetral and grounds are together, Then 2 hot leads and a ground to the panel.

Does this sound right, b/c the videos I saw, they used the 10-3 wire, but then combined the gound and nuetral wires in the box, and put 2 power leads to a double breaker so that it will power up both sides of the breaker panel in reverse.

Correct?

I also already figured out how I was going to get my 30A double breaker up to the top left so that my interlock plate will work properly too! Without buying another 30A double breaker- it will leave my unused lines to my 220V dryer receptacle unhooked.

 

There is one thing you need to do for sure. This test is done with your generator NOT RUNNING......If you have a multi-meter, put it on the ohms range and then touch both leads together. You should see "0" ohms. The what you need to check is to make sure that all four of the 120VAC receptacles that are on the front of the generator, are in fact grounded to the frame of the genny. So place one of the meter leads in the ground connection of a receptacle the first receptacle. Then find a shiny/bare metal spot on the frame of the generator.....not the engine or tank, but the actual frame. Then see if the meter reads zero or very close to zero. Then do the same test on the next receptacle, and so on. Hopefully all four of the receptacles will read zero ohm and now you know that the receptacles are in fact grounded to the generator frame........which is one of the requirements listed in the article that I last sent you the link for.

You will need 10-2 with a ground to run from the generator inlet box to the inside of your breaker panel. Use the black to go to the generator inlet breaker, white to neutral buss, and the bare ground or the green wire to the ground buss in the panel

 

Ok, but if I only feed one side of the 30A double breaker, it only feeds every other breaker on that side.
I want to feed both sides, with a double breaker. So you're saying split the black wire to go to both sides of the 30A breaker, so both sides will be charged up on the panel.
Right?
I'll only use the breakers I need on, no 240 ones as they are not used anyways. And there are breakers on the Genny and on the panel, etc.

After my comforts/ fridges, I want to keepo my Reef Tank alive too LOL.



** Also- I will only be using the round 120V/30A plug, not the 4 other standard 120V/20A receptacles.

 

So to be clear, I did NOT suggest and WOULD NOT suggest putting a jumper between the two generator input breakers to be able to feed every breaker in the panel and then feeding them from the one hot leg from the generator....that is a bad idea. First, your generator is 3600 watts, and that may be peak watts, not running watts....I don't know what generator you have. So you are only talking about a maximum of 30 amps Total output from the generator to be divvyed up between several circuits. You are like many folks that have a generator for emergency use at home....it's only big enough to run just a few thing. Hell, my 12,000W generator isn't big enough to run the house completely, but it was bought for emergency, and it's big enough to run my heat pump in heating mode in the winter time and cool the house in the summer time, and have the refrigerator on and a few lights here and there.

 

Is your heat pump electric, or gas? My furnace is gas. If I need heat, powered by the 120V fan.
We rarely need A/C where I live, certainly not in an emergent setting.

My Genny is 3600 constant, 4500 peak/start up.

We have a lower demand. Gas Range/stove. The most demand is probably my Reef tank/s. In the case genny power of using the Genny, I'll only use the smaller less wattage heater in the 2 tanks.

I have a Multimeter, and tomorrow I'll figure out what the output of that 120V/30A outlet is.
I'll then wire the 30A double breaker to feed both sides of my breaker panel.
Of course we'll be careful and frugal and only run what's needed- in a power out emergency.

I'll try it out when I get it all hooked up. This is going to work.
This will be much better than trying to run extension cords thry a cracked window or door. Not to mention pulling the fridges out to get to the plugs, etc. This will be much better.

 

Please elaborate on this if you don’t mind….

 

Yea, that's the rub of my location.....no natural gas lines out in the country, so when the house was built, they did not go with propane, so everything in the house is electric, except I put in a gas fireplace about 10 years ago and have a 100 lb tank to feed that on the few times a winter that we want or need it. So the 3600Watt genny will give you an output of 30amps total, no matter how you distribute it....to one 30 amp device or to ten 3 amp devices. And hopefully you do realize that if you feed the breaker WITHOUT the jumper you are talking about, that will feed every other breaker slot but on both the left and right side of the panel....not just one side or the other. And again, I'm not suggesting you do it the way that you are talking about doing it, but if you do, make sure to go ahead and just turn all the breakers in the panel off, except for the few that you need. Mark the critical ones with a RED magic marker or ???, so you know which ones are the breakers that need to be on in the emergency situation and nothing else

 

Right.

If I feed a single pole breaker, it feeds every other breaker on the panel. The grid power feeds every other breaker so that a double breaker feeds 2 x 120V making it 240V. In reverse, the double breaker would feed both sides @ 120V. Provided you/I have enough power.

Of course I'd start with everythig off, and after the interlock is flipped and the genny is powered up, then you flip the genny breaker that is going in reverse, then start adding the iportant ones like fridges, my reef tank, room lighting, etc.

* Edit- I just remembered in our last longer power out, we could still use out gas range/oven by lighting the burners with a butane fire starter- like we use fror the fireplace/BBQ. The ignitor is electric, but the gas still turns on and we light burners, had hot food, etc.
* Edit #2- our fireplace, wood burning, has no gas ignitor, even though out appliances are gas! I use paper, kindling, etc. Works well too- purely for aesthetics though.

 

It stands to reason that in any hazardous profession, the professions standards dictates what and when protecitve gear is to be used. In my health profession, there are several standards regarding when and what PPE is to be used.

OK, Not only common sense, but a quick Google search found many websites, here's one:

https://ehs.ncsu.edu/occupational-health/electrical-personal-protective-equipment-ppe/

That's what I meant. I'm also not going to break any existing standards or laws by using a 'generator interlock' device so that If my home is on back up generator power that no power can be going back to the grid from it in reverse. It's either one or the other, not both- even by accident.

This is the device/interlock I'll be installing that is made for my model/make of breaker panel.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2747373677...MIkZCG2dqUhAMVOQutBh2K6QesEAQYAyABEgKrcPD_BwE

 

Update:

So, I never did anything on this project- yet.

So I now realize that my generator will not have enoujgh output and be 'bi-phasic' so that it will supply of my breaker panel, and the sub panel that my Reef tank/s are on.

I'll need a 120/240 50A model.

Anyone near Milwaukee that they have one they're trying to get rid of?

Thanks for all the feedback.

I didn't get hurt or die.
I didn't destroy any appliances or equipment.

 

Well this sure has been an interesting read. Glad I stayed out of it…

But Todd, you *can* run your house on emergency use on a 120v gennie. I *wouldn’t*, because I likes me some AC, but you will have no problem running the things you need to run with that gennie.

That said, since you don’t have a gennie capable of running the house without load shedding, I would install a subpanel for those emergency circuits and have it on an interlock, that way when utility power restores all that *isn’t* on the emergency panel, you’ll know the power is back on and you simply operate the interlock to restore the emergency panel to utility power.

I ain’t even gonna get into the grounding and bonding discussion, suffice it to say that when you install a subpanel, the neutral and ground are isolated, so whether you have a floating neutral or bonded neutral at the gennie, it won’t make a dick’s worth of difference from a function or safety standpoint.

 

Oh yeah. I run my whole house on a 5000w gennie biphasic, and that includes the AC to keep me cool while I watch TV and enjoy the surround sound to drown out the noise of the genset.

 

Thanks,

I already have a subpanel- that runns off a double 60A from the main panel and runs7 breakers in my basement for all the stuff done there, lights, Bar, fridge, sump pump, outlets- thaat run my Reef tank- picture earlier.

I took the panel cover off the subpanel too.
I DID notice that the nuetral and ground were isolated in the sub panel! Bonded in the main panel.

So A subpanel is one row, and can be run with a 120V 30A Genny, from a single breaker?
But for an interlock, the main for the subpanel is a double on the main panel?

Tell me more.
I could isolaate a few things in the basment like the sujp pump, reef tank pumps and tank heaters, and a few fro nthe house too?

Tell me more...

We rarely loose power,and rarely need a/c. Water heater, furnace, and oven/range are gas too.

 

Big ass generators are not expensive. I got 13000 for like $850.

 

To start, your subpanel will need to be either a main breaker panel or have a breaker installed as a main for an interlock to work.

Then you just move the circuits you want on emergency power into the subpanel. Move the ones you don’t want on emergency power into the main panel.

Then you wire up a 30A 2-pole breaker to a flanged inlet, and plug the cord from the gennie into the flanged inlet.

For the flanged inlet, I would get an L14-30, so that when you do get a 240v gennie you don’t need to change it. I’d get a suitable length of 10/4SO cord and put an L6-30P on one end, putting red and black wires under the gold screw, and an L14-30C on the other end wired appropriately. The red and black bonded in the plug will send the same 120v to both phases on the connector, so you’ll energize both phases in the subpanel. Then, when you get a 240v gennie, you just change out the L6-30P for an L14-30P wired appropriately and you’ll get your 240v split phases.