Dog and I sitting in the dark
Ditch-Runner
Member Posts: 25,236 ✭✭✭✭
Lot of high wind and ice never a good thing our electric went out about a half hour ago 12:30 am nothing new power company guessing 2 or 3 hours down sure I trust you
I just hate the dragging out the generator all the power cords running all thur the house like a third world country getting it all up and running and 10 minutes later they get it back on line
Don't get me wrong I am glad to have the ability to do so and 40 gallons of gas on stand by
Just hoping it does notcome down to having to do it in the past it's saved us more than few times just making the call to do it with out a real time line once it was two maybe three days but majority 4 to 6 hours
Just venting sitting in the light of a battery latern. heaven knows I have enought flashlighs and laterns to supply a neighborhood when being a horder comes in handy lol
I installed two propane ventless heaters many years ago just fired one up have one upstairs also and several little and buddy propane heaters rated for indoor use if it gets too bad and yes we have carbondioxide and smoke detectors in every room
Sorry for the story book just bored as every one is asleep even the dod abandon me to sleep lol
Comments
I sure can relate to what you are going through this AM D\R. Whenever it happens here, I have to do the same. My house is all wired for a quick plug in for a generator but the 2 outlets (one for basement and one for upstairs) are FEMALE plug ins.
I'd have to have cords with MALE to MALE ends and because of the danger of electrocution with such, not going to find them on any shelf for sale. I know I'm smart enough to make what I need and know not to play with a live cord but just haven't got around 2 it.
Best scenario will be to just upgrade outlets to covered Male plug ins.
I have a dedicated 220 outlet in the garage that I use to connect the generator to the house. Switch off the main breaker, switch on the generator breaker, plug into outlet and then plug into generator. The only problem is knowing when the power company gets things going again because the whole house is isolated from the power co. feed. I try to monitor the DTE outage map but sometimes it said I had power and I didn't and vice versa. We are the last customer on this leg of their service and I can look 500 yards away and see the neighbors lights who are on a different power co. so that info does me no good. Just another joy of living in a rural area. Bob
I back feed my generator through a 220 outlet the same as Bobjudy is saying, except I also have a breaker switch on the power pole as well, I throw both switch’s . I can look at the meter and if it blinking, as I call it, power is back on. Also and most IMPORTANT, I use a check list when setting up and disconnecting, you don’t want to be feeding power back into the line while they are working on it, you could kill someone.
We've been through many power outages out here in the country. Our whole house generator kicks on after a few seconds and all is well.
Years ago I bought a power recliner that will put the footrest up and down and recline the backrest. I had lateral epicondylitis in my right arm that made it very painful to work the lever on the old chair. I was in it one morning when the power went off and that particular circuit was not in the generator panel, So I was stranded in the chair when the power went out. I tried everything to get out of the chair, but nothing worked. I had to holler for my wife so she could help me get up out of the chair.
That morning I went on Amazon and bought a UPS just for that chair, and it's come in handy several times since then.
House in Pine Bluff has an interlock for the generator. I need to get one installed here in my newish house. In the meantime if it looks to be an extended outage I move into my camper. I have two 100 lb propane bottles in case the smaller, 20lb bottles run out. Generator is dual fuel.
There is a yard light so if it is on, the power has been restored. When #1 and her family moved up here they were living in the big camper as they renovated their house. Son-in-law called me one night. Said there was something wrong with the camper, nothing electric was working.
I asked him if the yard light was on. He checked and it wasn't. I told him the power was out. 😆 He assumed since there hadn't been any bad weather the power was on. Not so.
He pulled the generator out of the shed, got it fired up and the main power came back on. Told him it was good to have a dry run in good weather.
Actually, lineman protect themselves from backfeeds by grounding the line they are working on. If by chance your genset powered up your service, it would trip immediately.
Isolating and grounding the line is one reason it takes a while to repair a fault.
I was out of town & a friend borrowed my generator. He's very handy so I figured he knew what he was doing. Well....., he somehow back fed his panel with a light gauge 100' cord. Then he wondered why some of his appliances burned out.
^^^^this^^^^.
Just turn off your main, connect into a 220v outlet and backfeed your box. If somehow you forgot to turn off the main, then you will still have no power because your generator CANNOT power the entire line without tripping its own breaker!
Also, the dead man plug(male on both ends) is safe if you simply follow the right steps. Turn off main, connect dead man cord to gen and house, THEN start the gen! Also, turn off the gen FIRST, then unplug. Safe as safe can be!