RE: Generator Safety

[Keith Doxey <ukha.diyha@xxxxxxx>]

THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU MUST NOT DO !!!

apart from the fact that if someone unplugged the gennie from the house
while it was running there would be exposed LIVE pins, If you forget to
remove the main fuse then you RISK KILLING SOMEONE.

It IS ILLEGAL and EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.

DO NOT DO IT

Keith
-----Original Message-----
From:	Phil Harris [SMTP:phillip.harris1@xxxxxxx]
Sent:	28 February 2001 11:41
To:	ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject:	RE: [ukha_d] My UN-automated Home :-(

Not that I'm recommending this as a course of action or even saying that
it's safe or legal but a friend of mine when I was at university lived in
an
area that was always suffering power cuts. They had several small UPS to
stop the heating dying on a power out and keep stuff like the VCR and mains
powered clocks / lamps alive and which betwen then would give them enough
time to get the gennie up.

They had a little Honda which was rated at (about) 3Kw and they would
connect it to the mains supply of their house by a cable which had 13amp
mains plugs on both ends. To avoid powering outside the house then they
would pull the main fuses from the incoming mains to the distribution box.

It worked...

Phil

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Keith Doxey [mailto:ukha.diyha@xxxxxxx]
> Sent: 28 February 2001 11:31
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> Subject: RE: [ukha_d] My UN-automated Home :-(
>
>
> When Mark wired the house I believe he had a separate
> consumer unit for
> "essential" services wired via a changeover switch with a
> socket to plug the
> generator in. He  just neglected to get the gennie!!
>
> If anyone is considering fitting a generator, A CHANGEOVER SWITCH IS
> ESSENTIAL.
> You cannot simple connect the generator to your mains supply
> for a number of
> reasons.
>
> 1. Your self generated electricity will feed out of the house.
> At best - you will light up your neighbours houses.
> Slightly worse - your generator will be overloaded and
> possibly blow up.
> Worst Case - YOU WILL KILL THE ELECTRICITY BOARD ENGINEER WHO
> IS TRYING TO
> RESTORE POWER
>
> 2. There will be an enormous bang and lots of smoke from your
> generator when
> the mains is restored.
>
> PLEASE CONSULT A QUALIFIED ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR IF YOU WANT
> A GENERATOR
> HOOKUP.
>
> Sorry for the shouting but this is Life Threatening stuff and
> should not be
> taken lightly.
>
> Even BT dont try to run everything in a building despite
> having huge engine
> sets in the power rooms. Stuff like electric heating and cooking is
> disabled. Some of the lights are also not operational. If you
> have gas or
> oil central heating you only need a small amount of
> electricity to drive the
> boiler and pump etc.
>
> If you want to run EVERYTHING you are talking serious money
> in the 10K+
> range. Even Autostart does not come cheap as you not only
> have to start the
> generator, you also have to have contactor controlled changeover and
> restoration of power.
>
> Be safe
>
> Keith
>




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