Generators and Circulators

[Rick Stanley]

Could I run Taco 007 and Grundfoss 15-58 circulators with a 5500w portable generator, through 200 ft of 12/2 Romex?

 

[benjamin]

Yes, about 50 of them on the generator or 15-20 on the wire. No problem with two as long as the voltage is hooked up right.

 

[Rick Stanley]

So, with a Garn, or anything else, in an outbuilding and piped in to an existing distribution system, trying to get some heat during a power outage with a generator is a challenge. I guess "voltage drop" is what we're talking about , right? Would a larger wire, like 10ga, increase the number of circs I can run?

 

[juddspaintballs]

If your house isn't electric hungry or excessively large, you could just about power your entire house off of two 5500w generators.

 

[Rick Stanley]

Yes, about 50 of them on the generator or 15-20 on the wire. No problem with two as long as the voltage is hooked up right.

I thought he was saying I could only run 2 circs because of the 200ft length of the wire. No?

 

[benjamin]

No, I may have exagerated a bit, but you're no where near the limit with two circulator pumps.

Those two pumps combined are less than 300 watts, right. Now the garn has a big (3/4hp?) blower so that's a little bit more of a challenge. Doable though. Yes bigger wire will have less voltage drop and allow you to run more pumps. I assumed you meant one of each of the pumps. How many do you want to run?

 

[Rick Stanley]

I should have been clearer. I'd LIKE to run the whole house (mix of nine 007 and 15-58's) with the generator 200 feet away in the garn barn. I realize that's not much of a load for a generator of that size but didn't know if 200ft of wire was a problem. Guess not.

 

[Hunderliggur]

I don't know how many 100's of feet of wire I have in my house, but the breaker panel in the garage is 100' from the other end of the house and 70 feet from the boiler shed. Everything works fine. Even ran everything on a 6500W generator at the shed this weeked when the power went out. And I mean everything (except the Jacuzzi :-( ). The shen has 10/3 cable to the house to handle a 50A breaker panel.

 

[Rick Stanley]

Ya, mine too. Big ole farm house sprawled out all over the place. Never thought of it that way. Must be 100's of feet in here too. I had remembered from construction jobs sometimes voltage drop was an issue when we tried to run a compressor or something big from a temporary service panel quite a distance away. Guess I just didn't realize how little juice circs take.
So, I should be good once I wire it up. During a winter outage I can run fewer zones if necessary while I'm burning, because of the garn fan motor. Then after the storage is charged I can pump hot water everywhere. Thanks!!

 

[RobC]

I'm not an electrician but have done my share of wiring.
Rick, here are words, below, on "code". With your generator in Barn and your trying to run House. House would be Load. You already have proper wire sizes from distribution panel in House so you should not have power drop once power arrives at House.
Your 5500 watt generator is 45amps. To get by with 12/2 use a multimeter in an outlet at your house and don't run below 115V. Running a few circulators and lights OK but Have everything else in house shut off, Like well pump etc....

According to the National Electrical Code the current-carrying capacity of any wire is determined by the temperature rating of its insulation. Common ratings for 12 gauge wire are 60C (21 amps), 75C (28 amps), and 85C (30 amps). But wait, that is not the final answer.
Again, according to the NEC, overcurrent protection for 12 gauge wire shall not exceed 20 amps. Furthermore, good design practice demands that no circuit be intentionally loaded to more than 80% of its overcurrent protection. In the case of a 20 amp circuit, that means 16 amps.

So even though 85 degree C wire can safely carry 30 amps, you can't use a circuit breaker larger than 20 amps and you can't design the system to carry more than 16 amps continuously (over 3 hours).

Your original question was about maximum distance. Voltage drop does play a part here, but it is proportional to the actual load you put on the circuit. The heavier the load, the more the voltage will drop. Conversely, with no load on the system there will be no voltage drop. The worst-case scenario would be to start a large motor (such as an air conditioner) at the end of a long wire run. Motor starting current is usually 6X the normal running current. On a hot summer day when you are most likely to need the A/C, the power company is most likely to be experiencing brownout conditions because everybody wants A/C at that time. In that case your supply voltage will likely be low to start with and the voltage drop at the end of a very long wire may just make it impossible to start the compressor. Even if you do get it started, the ongoing low voltage situation will cause the compressor to draw higher amps. The result will be overheating of the compressor and likely early burnout.

Read more: What is the maximum safe distance for a residential 20 amp 120 volt circuit when using 12/2 AWG NM Romex wire? | Answerbag http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/56340#ixzz1ApCQ1elA