hooking up generator to house

boo boo · Jan 3, 2015

I need help / advise.
When the power goes out we have no water from the well. After researching I want to either put in a interlock on my panel witch is legal in my state or a transfer switch to power my home. We were out 47 hours over the thanksgiving storm and no water gets old fast.

I went to HD to start getting supplies for this project and a store associate questioned my generator and said I could not use either if my generator was a bonded neutral and needed to be a floating neutral. He said my home would not be grounded.
I have a storm responder 5500 W 8250 W surge

I am buying the supplies and having a state licensed master electrician doing the box work.
So do I need a new genny to do this or is there a way to change my bonded to floating or is the HD guy full of it

DBCOOPER · Jan 4, 2015

boo boo said:
I need help / advise.
When the power goes out we have no water from the well. After researching I want to either put in a interlock on my panel witch is legal in my state or a transfer switch to power my home. We were out 47 hours over the thanksgiving storm and no water gets old fast.

I went to HD to start getting supplies for this project and a store associate questioned my generator and said I could not use either if my generator was a bonded neutral and needed to be a floating neutral. He said my home would not be grounded.
I have a storm responder 5500 W 8250 W surge

I am buying the supplies and having a state licensed master electrician doing the box work.
So do I need a new genny to do this or is there a way to change my bonded to floating or is the HD guy full of it

If you read this it will explain the bonded ground theory

http://www.noshockzone.org/generator-ground-neutral-bonding/

velvetfoot · Jan 4, 2015

I'm no expert, but I think you can disconnect the ground from neutral at the generator. Then when you plug in the generator the one place of bonding is at the panel.
Are you sure that generator can power your well pump? I needed a larger one for my deep well.

stee6043 · Jan 4, 2015

I'm betting your state licensed master electrician will be your best source for this information. HD employees...well, I've had vastly varied experiences depending on location, time of day, day of week.

Highbeam · Jan 4, 2015

boo boo said:
I need help / advise.
When the power goes out we have no water from the well. After researching I want to either put in a interlock on my panel witch is legal in my state or a transfer switch to power my home. We were out 47 hours over the thanksgiving storm and no water gets old fast.

I went to HD to start getting supplies for this project and a store associate questioned my generator and said I could not use either if my generator was a bonded neutral and needed to be a floating neutral. He said my home would not be grounded.
I have a storm responder 5500 W 8250 W surge

I am buying the supplies and having a state licensed master electrician doing the box work.
So do I need a new genny to do this or is there a way to change my bonded to floating or is the HD guy full of it

The guy was an idiot. I have an interlock on my panel and use a regular portable genset to power 240 and 120 volt devices simultaneously in my house. All four wires from the genset are connected and everything works great. No weird shocks or anything when touching the genset or the appliances.

The guy was an idiot. I use the same genset to run my ungrounded rv with the genset in the bed of my truck. No grounding is needed.

Don't try too hard to understand the floating vs. Nonfloating neutral thing. You will find mass confusion and different opinions on this make believe problem. The interlock kit is legal and has directions to follow.

Most well pumps are easily powered with a 5kw genset.

seige101 · Jan 4, 2015

Highbeam said:
The guy was an idiot. I have an interlock on my panel and use a regular portable genset to power 240 and 120 volt devices simultaneously in my house. All four wires from the genset are connected and everything works great. No weird shocks or anything when touching the genset or the appliances.

The guy was an idiot. I use the same genset to run my ungrounded rv with the genset in the bed of my truck. No grounding is needed.

Don't try too hard to understand the floating vs. Nonfloating neutral thing. You will find mass confusion and different opinions on this make believe problem. The interlock kit is legal and has directions to follow.

Most well pumps are easily powered with a 5kw genset.

What highbeam said the guy at HD doesn't know what he is talking about.
You do want to use a floating neutral with a portable generator properly wired into a house though.
/electrician

boo boo · Jan 4, 2015

Thanks guys
I got an email back from my electrician and he said he would take care of everything also parts at cost (time permitting for him)
His reply back to me was Wednesday to go over all options on interlock or transfer switch

I have wired rooms basements and outdoor receptacles but putting power to the big box I do not want to do myself and the wife does not trust me doing it either.
Thanks again

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