Electrician Question- Generator problems

[DonM]

We in the North East just experienced a rare October snowstorm. We received about 12" of wet snow- add that to the fact that there were still alot of leaves on the tress, and we have a nightmare.

My town is still without power since last Saturday- and they think it will take until this Sunday at midnight when we will be 99% back .

I was lucky??? enough to buy a generator- but some weird things have happened since I installed it.

I was told that in the short term I could take a shortcut and direct wire the 220 line from the generator to my electric dryer line, and shut off the main circuit breaker.

I'm wondering if the problems I have (following) are a result of the generator or the installation?

• 
  I had a power surge protector melt on me- it was many years old

• I had a three way switch fail- the electric to the switch is still working

• My washer will not spin very fast

• I have a circuit breaker (the ground fault type) go off and not able to reset

• My house alarm went off for a short blast

• My vacuum cleaner will not operate

Anyone out there be able to assist me? Do you think the appliances are history?

thanks
don

 

[Blues]

Impossible to know without detailed knowledge of your installation, circuits, and loads. But in general, if you're not an expert at electrical wiring, you definitely should not be backfeeding your house via a 220 outlet. That's highly illegal in most jurisdictions, and can cause death to electrical linesmen trying to restore power.

I'd suggest you immediately remove the backfeed, and just plug individual appliances and lights into the generator.

 

[vacationhopeful]

...I'd suggest you immediately remove the backfeed, and just plug individual appliances and lights into the generator....

I have solar PV panels. My house is registered with the utility company as a possible electric generation point and I have a assessible cutoff switch for the electric company to cutoff any back feed to their wires.

You don't. You don't want the liability of a backfeed. Please follow that suggestion.

You are using/drawing more power than what you are generating; this could also cause permanent damage to any/all of your electrical appliances.

ie computers, security systems, TVs, refrigerator, motors - (your electronics, GFIs, motors).

 

[ampaholic]

Just turning off the main breaker does NOT eliminate potential back-feed issues, since your ground and neutral are still active. The GFCI popping might tell you something.

If you can get a competent electrician to entirely disconnect your house from the grid - perhaps you could feed your whole house wiring from a portable gen set - even that is iffy.

The best bet is to use the outlets on the gen set with properly sized cords to distribute the energy to points of use.

Rick - former pump station electrician for Exxon - where we used a lot of gen sets.

 

[stevedmatt]

Everyone above is right. You have many issues, the main one being that you could potentially be backfeeding the grid.

There could be multiple issues creating your other problems. It is impossible to tell without knowing what type and size generator you have, method of connection you are using, and if the generator is functioning properly.