When installing a generator in your home, I recommend a professional licensed electrician perform the job. But some electricians are not qualified to do this job. Since I am an electrician, does that surprised by that statement?
I recently ran into my competition at a local home improvement center. I noticed that he was picking up a twist lock whip cord to install a portable generator. Generators need to be installed with a transfer switch. They can be a manual switch or an automatic switch. But wiring a generator directly into a panel may cause a back feed to utility workers in your area. It is dangerous and illegal. But here is a fellow electrician getting ready to install a generator without a switch.
That was the stupidest thing I ever heard in my life. I’d like to tell a local electrical inspector about this electrician and what he is doing. He is hooking up generators without having any kind of transfer switch or a load deviation from the generator to utility power, or utility to generator power. You need that separation of power. When I asked him why he was doing this, he said he just wanted to make money.
I told him what the dangers are, how he could hurt people, how that could affect his license, his career. And it seemed like he didn’t care. I asked him directly that after knowing all these dangers why was he still doing it. His response was that he said he didn’t care. Well, I do. I care about human life. Hurting myself is one thing, hurting others is another because he won’t do work properly. It seems some people aren’t caring about the danger of installing a generator. It can be dangerous. It’s got voltage. Voltage can kill you. That’s why we have so many codes to protect us.
And here he is hooking up a generator directly to a panel without any means of disconnecting the main. In order to generate power and service the equipment of the load you want to carry, then you must be able to disconnect utility load. Some people use a manual switch but it has to be done to where you can’t back feed. In other words, no matter how you switch the breakers, it can’t back feed to the utility.
What this electrician did has no way of stopping the back feed. It’s illegal. He said he will advise the homeowner and he will write it in red to turn off the main disconnect. I said that’s not enough. I have turned away business and refused to put in generators because people wanted me to do it that way. I refuse to install a generator illegally. I refuse to work unsafe. I refuse to put another person’s life in danger just because a homeowner doesn’t want to pay another $100. If you can’t afford a properly installed generator then maybe you shouldn’t get a generator.
This goes to show you that some electricians are interested in the money and don’t really care about the work they do or how it affects others. The money is one thing but lives can be affected. I don’t care how cheap the homeowner is. You can’t leave a live wire hanging for somebody to get hurt. If you can’t afford a transfer switch, then it is no use hooking up that generator. If any electrician does, then it is against code and he could actually kill someone. Unintentionally, he could kill someone possibly a lineman that is working on the power. I don’t love the power company, but I don’t want anyone hurt or even killed so that some homeowner can save a buck.
I install transfer switches and generators up to code. I can’t do everything but I do what I can to save lives. Please type your comments in below on this subject.
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