Duane - thanks for the sobering reminder to all here, the dangers of not doing electrical work to code as well as the dangers of using siting generator improperly.
Do you have any feedback on my proposed project? I value your input here.
Hi Dave - you must be taking a break from ripping up and replacing your home sub-floor!
There's a bunch of stuff already mounted on, penetrating through and set up against that side of the home/garage, so having a manual transfer switch a PIB (power inlet box) on the outside it no biggie here.
The manual transfer switch would be 50-amp rated to switch the generator into the service panel. I'd have to look into it further to ensure it's good to handle a 200-amp house service when in normal mode. This may be a miss on my part, yet I think my plan in general is solid. I'd have an electrician handle the installation of the transfer switch and PIB.
2 thoughts
1) Your RV generator is not a 220 generator. Unless Onan has changed the design, it is two 110 separate circuits, same phase.
2) If you have a HE water heater it may not run with the generator going though the power management panel (that floating ground thing). When we tried that for Hurricane Irene I had to use the bypass mode on the Progressive EMS
We did the whole house genny and transfer switch sub panel after 13.5 days of no power due to Sandy.
I did all the work myself and got the gen and switch at below contractor cost from a local supply house. Was on the floor and they wanted to make room. Right time - right price - right friends.
I spent $5600, not including a HF tent garage I use for the winter (snow).
That $5600 did not include replacing the electric range with a gas range - and the new matching micro and dishwasher (all Bosch). One of the shortcomings using the portable gen was not being able to cook on the electric range
I figure I added about $12000 in house value. At the time the post Sandy gen installs around here were going for $15,000 - $20,000+
I would not do it again. Permits alone were $300 plus I had to landscape the genny for another $300.
If I was to do it again I would get one of the newer standby gen hookups.
Transfer switch installs at the meter pan. Plug in your extension cord and it disconnects the house from the grid.
This would supply the whole house so you just need to turn off the breakers you shouldn't be powering.
Here is just one example
Genny would be one of the fuel injected inverter Honda's (EU7000IS).
My whole house gen is a 15K (on natural gas at sea level) and compared to others it is rated as quiet, it is anything but quiet. Although it is not harsh, from the opposite corner of our lot there is no doubt you can hear a genny running.
You can buy the Hondas natural gas or propane ready, just connect to a tap off your house supply.
Or just use gasoline. I have a 14 gallon tote that I use to transfer gas when we use our Honda 3000IS (boon docking etc)
- - - Updated - - -
Not quite Dave
Could you elaborate please? we use generators here a lot and I might be missing something
Jim,
I like your idea. A generator is a generator is a generator no matter what that generator is normally used for.
- - - Updated - - -
Not quite Dave
Elaborate on what, this?
Yes Please
A generator is a generator is a generator no matter what that generator is normally used for.
feedback on my proposed project?
Jim, did you see this?
1) Your RV generator is not a 220 generator. Unless Onan has changed the design, it is two 110 separate circuits, same phase.
2) If you have a HE (high efficiency) water heater it may not run with the generator going though the power management panel (that floating ground thing). When we tried that for Hurricane Irene I had to use the bypass mode on the Progressive EMS
Hi Duane - yeah, I completely missed post 18. Thanks for your feedback. I don't have any 220v items in the house, so I have that going for me
And the W/H is not an HE type. Gas fed and piezo (manual) ignition.
If the gen has two legs of 110 VAC power, protected separately at the gen, how would one power only 1 leg of the dist panel in the house? I guess the magic is really in the transfer switch. I was preferring to supply power to both legs in my home dist panel and switch off all loads except for critical ones (furnace, refer and a few lights).Maybe no 220 appliances, but your house is wired 220.
So in theory you could supply one side of the panel (A or B) but then you would have an unbalanced panel.
Best guess if you want to rely only on the RV?
Generator lock out sub panel with only essential circuits with a max of 110 volt - 30 amp.
If I were to do that I would add a dedicated 30amp receptacle to the RV, and just switch off the breakers. Or if you really want to get fancy, you can buy a manual transfer switch. Widely used in the marine world. They are a "break before make" style switch.
If the gen has two legs of 110 VAC power, protected separately at the gen, how would one power only 1 leg of the dist panel in the house? I guess the magic is really in the transfer switch. I was preferring to supply power to both legs in my home dist panel and switch off all loads except for critical ones (furnace, refer and a few lights).
30.0 | 0.0 | |||
1000 | 30.0 | 3.5% | 1.1 | 29.0 |
2000 | 29.0 | 3.5% | 1.0 | 27.9 |
3000 | 27.9 | 3.5% | 1.0 | 27.0 |
4000 | 27.0 | 3.5% | 0.9 | 26.0 |
5000 | 26.0 | 3.5% | 0.9 | 25.1 |
Never heard of these. This is a great idea! WaterBOB...Aside from all this, ever hear the advise to fill your tub before a major storm? Seems silly.
The morning after Sandy, first flush of the toilet was the only one, no water!
No water for 3.5 days and then had to boil for several days after that.
Although the tub was empty the Cyclone had 120 gallons on board, so we were OK that way.
BTW, tub liners are readily available and an inexpensive way to have 50+ gallons of clean fresh water available.
NOT your theory, but the OPs theory about setting up his residence to use the rv generator for power in an outage..... and i dont mean its a pipe dream, but only a theory at this time.... its workable, but in my opinion its probably not feasable to go thru the trouble of setting it all up, and then waiting for a power outage to happen so it can be used.... and even then there is more to it than just plugging the genset into the "system" and turning it on.....My theory?