Generator help

BigClay

BigClay

Knower of useless ZJ things
Joined
Sep 24, 2008
Location
Winston-Salem
Paging @Ron haha

My power went out again this morning (old neighborhood lots of old trees all line above ground yadayada). I have talked about this generator before; it should power my entire house. Unfortunately a breaker on the generator keeps popping when a 220 load kicks on. That shouldn’t happen.

So let’s make sure I am not 100% stupid. First question, is there a 50amp outlet on this one? To connect to the house which outlet should I be using?
 
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BigClay said:
Paging @Ron haha

My power went out again this morning (old neighborhood lots of old trees all
Line above ground yadayada). I have talked about this generator before; it should power my entire house. Unfortunately a breaker on the fender keeps popping when a 220 load kicks on. That shouldn’t happen.

So let’s make sure I am not 100% stupid. First question, is there a 50amp outlet on this one? To connect to the house which outlet should I be using?
Click to expand...

Are you sure it's wired correctly?
 
shawn said:
Are you sure it's wired correctly?
Click to expand...

As far as to the house, I think so... it is the same wires I used for my old 8kw, but I never used and 220s because I knew it couldn't handle it. Whould too small of a gauge of wire be causing this?
 
BigClay said:
As far as to the house, I think so... it is the same wires I used for my old 8kw, but I never used and 220s because I knew it couldn't handle it. Whould too small of a gauge of wire be causing this?
Click to expand...

Was the 8kw 220? I run my house off a 5500w, well pump, electric water heater, 48000btu air conditioning, etc...
 
Well thanks to @a_kelley and google, for helping me out. As this is an older model, the dang 50amp is on the bottom side of the panel. Got some re-wiring to do now.
 

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BigClay said:
I think trying to run the whole house on the 30a was/is my problem. Hopefully this new found info will be the trick.
Click to expand...
The breakers worked!
What gauge is the drop cord feeding the house? Now you'll be able to feed a bigger load.
 
BigClay said:
I think trying to run the whole house on the 30a was/is my problem. Hopefully this new found info will be the trick.
Click to expand...

It shouldn't make a bit of difference. Where are you even finding a 50a plug to feed the house? I've not seen a house-side portable generator plug that's rated for more than 30a @ 240v.

You said it pops the breaker if you try to run "anything" that's 240v. A water heater is 3500-4000w, a well pump is 1500w, a heat pump is 2500-3500w. Any one of those should run just fine on a 30a circuit, even with some 120v lighting and plug loads on top.

Are you sure it's correctly wired?
 
shawn said:
It shouldn't make a bit of difference. Where are you even finding a 50a plug to feed the house? I've not seen a house-side portable generator plug that's rated for more than 30a @ 240v.

You said it pops the breaker if you try to run "anything" that's 240v. A water heater is 3500-4000w, a well pump is 1500w, a heat pump is 2500-3500w. Any one of those should run just fine on a 30a circuit, even with some 120v lighting and plug loads on top.

Are you sure it's correctly wired?
Click to expand...

I'm betting that he was cause a line to line short by plugging a single phase gen out put into a 2 phase input.
If he didn't damage the excited reference he should buy a lottery ticket.
 
No specifics on load, wiring configuration, wire size, etc. Solid recipe for burning your house down.
 
When you get power back, check the dishwasher, ceiling fans, and all plug-in appliances and TVs.

You may be in for a hellova surprise
 
Power is back on and everything works just fine.

My other statements may not have made sense, I was “interneting while pissed off at something” haha. The hot water heater tripped the breaker on the genset, once I turned that breaker off in the panel all was well.

As far as load/wiring/etc this was installed by an electrician as it is out of my realm of knowledge. @Ron this is the same setup we discussed a few months back.

I am going to get the electrician back out here and discuss the use of this new fancy 50a outlet I discovered to see if it will make a difference and also hopefully run the 5 ton AC
 
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