PDA

View Full Version : residential backup generators


Pootnaigle
06-18-2012, 10:55 PM
These are becoming more and more popular. My question is what if anything do you do when you run up on one thats operating?
I installed one for my elderly parents and it has a throwover switch but unless you know where to look the open point isnt obvious. Would you guys pull the meter before starting work on that secondary? or just test for dead? And is this covered in your safety manual?
I am talking about the permanant installations that run on natural gas or propane not a portable generator
thrasher
06-19-2012, 03:36 PM
We just test for dead, then ground. A few guys drop the stinger to the txf to where they know a gen is running even if it tests dead.
duckhunter
06-19-2012, 04:07 PM
We would pull the meter.

We backfed a transformer at lineschool a few years back and put a ground on the line to see what would happen to the generator. The generator saw the ground as load and just worked harder. It protected the line in that it took the voltage to ground, but we've always told members that it would destroy their generator if they hooked them up wrong.
lewy
06-19-2012, 05:40 PM
These are becoming more and more popular. My question is what if anything do you do when you run up on one thats operating?
I installed one for my elderly parents and it has a throwover switch but unless you know where to look the open point isnt obvious. Would you guys pull the meter before starting work on that secondary? or just test for dead? And is this covered in your safety manual?
I am talking about the permanant installations that run on natural gas or propane not a portable generatorI worry more about the guy that plugs his portable generator in, than I do the permanent ones because they have to be inspected before they can be hooked up & they have a disconnect built into them. Having said this we ground our secondary if working at the transformer.
Pootnaigle
06-19-2012, 06:36 PM
Ummmmmmmmm does anybody have a section of their safety manual dedicated to the use of generators by the public? I have seen jusa bout everthing else covered but never that?
reppy007
06-20-2012, 08:56 AM
Ummmmmmmmm does anybody have a section of their safety manual dedicated to the use of generators by the public? I have seen jusa bout everthing else covered but never that?

You brought up a good point,Ive never seen that either.