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I don't have any grounded appliances. The ONLY purpose to cheater plug (which I want to get rid of) is to enable me to get more outlets further away via power strip. I can't find a "2 conductor" power strips, hence cheater plug. The bed has two sides, I can get two strips with long enough cables, the outlet is two plugs, so I won't need to daisy chain. Getting a 3 conductor outlet seems the easiest way, just not sure if this is wise... I hadn't thought about surface mount, and that dodges the entire issue as I'd just install 2 conductor outlets. That could be a real simple solution. The only surge suppressors I want in the house are on the main panel. The whole point of this is to rid myself of these cheap lovely suppressor strips. I've been buying these ugly bastards and chopping up the plastic ones.
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Dec 20, 2020 04:35
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Article 406.4 (D) (2) (b) of the NEC allows you to replace an ungrounded outlet with a GFCI marked "NO EQUIPMENT GROUND" Obviously replacing the circuit with a proper grounded one would be preferable, and an electrician might be able to do it for you without damaging your walls. But yeah, your planned course of action is a lot safer than what you have going on now.
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Dec 20, 2020 04:42
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Nevets posted:I don't have an answer to your questions, but I was in almost your exact situation in my old house. 1 ungrounded antique simplex receptacle for the whole bedroom. I had 3 of the cheapo walmart extension cords daisy chained around the perimeter of the room so I'd have receptacles in each corner. Only ever had a couple led lamps, phone charger, and an electric blanket plugged into it so about 300 watts max. No cheater plug or anything with a ground though, I think having the ability to plug in a 3 prong appliance to a completely ungrounded and unprotected socket even if you never intend to is a bad idea. You might not be the only person to use that room, and you might forget yourself. Wait hold on, someone explain to me why a surge protector doesn't work without a ground.
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Dec 20, 2020 04:53
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:tuyop, thank you for listening and not getting discouraged. There is a least-wrong way to turn a fixed sconce into a portable sconce, but the easiest way is just get the proper thing from Amazon. Yeah I guess I should have just doubled down and stuck all my wiring inside altoids tins with leds sticking out or something. Load-bearing bubble gum! But your tone matched the severity of the mistake for sure. Glad I used a surge protector to test! Anyway here’s the (messy) complete setup with different lamps!   And bonus cat, of course.  Edit: my wife also wants you all to know that she knew from the start that it would be a terrible fiasco and is glad that the thread supported her tuyop fucked around with this message at 04:57 on Dec 20, 2020 |
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Dec 20, 2020 04:54
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Hubis posted:Wait hold on, someone explain to me why a surge protector doesn't work without a ground. Where did you think the surge went?
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Dec 20, 2020 05:05
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Hubis posted:Wait hold on, someone explain to me why a surge protector doesn't work without a ground. They typically have a bunch of metal-oxide varistors connected from line to ground, when voltage reaches a certain threshold they allow current to flow to ground, instead of to your TV, cheap ones can leak current is why you sometimes hear of them tripping GFIs, they're also typically only good for one really good surge. The nice ones have capacitors and all kinds of other poo poo that makes then work better, plus monitoring circuitry to tell you when they go bad.
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Dec 20, 2020 05:20
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Elviscat thanks for the code reference, sounds like what I am thinking is possibly supportable by code. I'd have to traverse up, then over, then up inside a wall. Is feasible? Is there a tool that can do this sort of thing? Do you have any advice re: knob n tube with GFCI? Or is this more a "try it and find out" situation. Those buncha-Metal-oxide-varistors in plastic housinh are the garbage I am trying to purge from my life. I ended up installing a Eaton MOV/Filter hybrid on my main panel. Which is still a MOV. But it was more than $5 at wal-mart and by a "real" brand, so hopefully I have made sensible risks. From my understanding, MOVs slowly fail over time, and when failed they fail short. Because these are used in bargain basement power strips that are made of flammable garbage, they can burn your house down. MOV failure is independent of the load on the circuit, but is sensitive to voltage. So very old units have seen enough excursions to fail catastrophically
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Dec 20, 2020 06:23
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When you say "up and over" you mean for a second outlet on the other side? If you have K&T, you also probably have balloon framing, if you have attic access go up, crawlspace go down, you can drill small thin holes that are easy to patch between levels. The box can be punched out of the wall to give you a hole to work with, then the hole can be carefully embiggened to retro-box size. I've never experienced nuisance tripping on GFIs with knob and tube, nor can I think of any reason why there would be, GFCIs simply compare line current to neutral current and trip if there's a 30mA mismatch. If you do install a downstream receptacle you should use the "GFCI PROTECTED" and "NO EQUIPMENT GROUND" stickers supplied with the GFCI. If you do have attic or crawlspace access you can also see if there's a circuit you can grab a grounding conductor from for extra not-shitiness. Like I said, ungrounded GFCI is A-OK, by code, and about 1,000X better than a "cheater" plug.
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Dec 20, 2020 08:18
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Elviscat posted:They typically have a bunch of metal-oxide varistors connected from line to ground, when voltage reaches a certain threshold they allow current to flow to ground, instead of to your TV, cheap ones can leak current is why you sometimes hear of them tripping GFIs, they're also typically only good for one really good surge. Makes sense, and the tripping GFIs does seem like a dead giveaway there. kid sinister posted:Where did you think the surge went? So how is Ground meaningfully different from Neutral here? In theory they should be at practically the same potential, right? And meanwhile, how is intentionally faulting over-current to ground an OK thing, given that may be connected to all sorts of "dangerous to be energized" things elsewhere on the circuit? I mean I guess I could go look up a schematic for a surge protector and figure it out myself. I had just never really given it much thought before. E: see, this kind of fits how I would expect it to work Reddit posted:Surge protectors will 'surge protect' without a ground. The MOV in a protector shunts line overvoltage to the neutral, but MOVs are consumable. At some amount of absorption in joules (that's the device rating you'll see on the box), the device will fail to become conductive during overvolt conditions. Then it just becomes an extension cord with lots of plug receptacles... the MOV has failed and is non-reactive at this point. Most protectors will have a light on them indicating this condition (it may light up, or it may go off, depending on the model). Hubis fucked around with this message at 08:45 on Dec 20, 2020 |
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Dec 20, 2020 08:37
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Hubis posted:Makes sense, and the tripping GFIs does seem like a dead giveaway there. Just watch this video.
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Dec 20, 2020 08:46
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angryrobots posted:In addition, nobody said this. OP said themselves that their next probable course of action was regular cord and plug lamps, which is what they originally thought they were buying, and is the easiest solution. Nobody was rude about it.
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Dec 20, 2020 12:16
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Elviscat posted:We're saying the same thing though? That you should just buy a light that's meant to be plugged in? That's what I'm saying, definitely. Elviscat posted:E: I don't know how you could possibly misinterpret my thousand word post, with in line code citations, about why adapting fixtures is not okay, am I going insane, am I missing something in your posting? But you want on to say "it's not impracticable to buy listed cord and plug connected devices for your apartment where you and your neighbors sleep." In this very case that's not sufficient (because they need boxes, among other things) and not something that I wanted my discussion of different and often laxer codes for temporary theater lighting leading to. If that's not what you meant, it's all good. But that's not how it read to me.
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Dec 20, 2020 16:58
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Motronic posted:That's what I'm saying, definitely. I read "it's not impracticable" as "there's literally no reason OP can't go buy a properly listed floor lamp assembly instead of hacking something together with the sconces and parts they found in their garage." Meaning, there's reasons to make exceptions for theater/stage productions to allow them to use sketchy hacked together setups because the "right way" doesn't make sense for something that'll get torn down in a few days/weeks. However Joe Residential can take a 30 minute trip to Target to buy precisely what he needs to light up his room.
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Dec 20, 2020 17:28
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DaveSauce posted:I read "it's not impracticable" as "there's literally no reason OP can't go buy a properly listed floor lamp assembly instead of hacking something together with the sconces and parts they found in their garage." I agree with this interpretation, but that's not how I read it. I read "it's not impracticable to buy <the correct things you need to make these light up uhhh....safely?> where you and your neighbors sleep." Like i said, if that's not how it was meant great - we're on the same page. But it's pretty ambiguous to me.
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Dec 20, 2020 17:38
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I'd like to take a moment to point out that the original thread title was "don't burn your house down." You folks are doing a wonderful job of keeping people safe, and erring on the side of caution is good. Myself, I tend to say "this is the wrong and code-illegal-but-still-safe way to do <terrible thing>" and I definitely see how that can be problematic on forums where there isn't sufficient wink-and-nod feedback. In reverse order of posting, Motronic, Elviscat, kid sinister, H110Hawk, angryrobots, Nerobro... I see you all making good posts in this thread, and I appreciate it. I know a lot of megathread owners abandon their children, but I feel this one is important enough that I've really struggled to keep it alive and relevant. Thank you all for being safe and knowledgeable and experts in your own categories. Let's keep this thread working for another 10 years or so, Forums willing.
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Dec 20, 2020 17:40
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:Let's keep this thread working for another 10 years or so, Forums willing. Taking a look at the date of the OP I think we're gonna need a full panel replacement and service upgrade by then.
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Dec 20, 2020 17:43
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Elviscat posted:When you say "up and over" you mean for a second outlet on the other side? Up-and-over I meant from the basement inside the walls to get to the bedroom. I'll check out the balloon framing tip, good idea, the basement is full so no crawlspace. Might buy one of those $20 endoscope thingies on Amazon and peep into the walls. Replacing the outlet with a un-grounded GFCI w/ a label is my path forward. Thanks!
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Dec 20, 2020 18:20
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Motronic, Yeah, I messed up my post, I meant to use the word "practicable" twice (is impracticable i.e. cannot reasonably be done, and is not impracticable i.e can reasonably be done) I.E. sound stages and sets can't really use the same standards as building wiring, because they're constantly changing (this isn't to say what they do is unsafe, just different). For building wiring you should always follow the code, and the only time you should be making your own flexible cord-and-plug connected assemblies is in strict adherence to the few places the NEC allows it. It's all good and the OP's new setup looks good and safe and it all worked out, which is the main point.
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Dec 20, 2020 19:08
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Yeah, it's all good. This is just a thread in which I want to be very precise in language and meaning especially around things like code interpretations I'm making. And we've now done that.
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Dec 20, 2020 19:15
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I just had my house upgraded to 200 amp service. My house doesn't seem like the type of house to need 200 amps (it's a modestly sized home in the suburbs) but every single slot in my breaker box was full and I wanted to be able to use a generator if and when we lose power. So I had to upgrade my service mostly to just have the ability to install that special generator switch in the panel. They also installed one of those four prong generator outlets outside my home. Anyway I am looking for a recommendation on a generator. I've never been so overwhelmed with options in my life. There's ones that take gas and ones that take propane. There's ones that take both. There's ones that take both and let you switch between the two without losing power. I was all set to buy some 12,000 watt one (Pulsar G12KBN) but then I read that's probably overkill for my house and it will actually use MORE gas than a smaller one. But I like the large gallon ones if it means less trips to the gas station. Then I read about tri-fuel ones, where you can hook natural gas from the home into them which is very attractive because every gas powered device I've ever owned became a huge shitshow to power up after a long time of non-use (snowblower, lawnmower, etc). I'm assuming this is mostly because I'm an irresponsible oaf and am leaving a tiny amount of gas in them or something, but I've heard from other homeowner friends in my area that they also hate gas powered stuff for the same reason (impossible to start up again). So I guess my questions are 1) is there a gas powered generator (one that connects directly to my panel with that four prong thing that's been installed outside house) that are easier to start than others? Are there ones that have huge tanks, but lower wattage so I'm not running out at 3am to fill it up again? 2) What kind of wattage should I be looking for? It's a fairly modest three bedroom home. All our lights are LEDs. If possible I'd like to be able to run bedroom air conditioners (but it's not life or death). Being able to have internet is a huge one because my wife's job is now permanently work from home and if she can't go online she has to go into the office which is impossible with us having kids. 3) Reading up on the tri-fuel models, I am super curious about using natural gas. When my electrician was here, I asked him about those gas powered generators and he said those were a fortune to install and I would permanently have a huge generator on the side of my house at all times. But I see a tri fuel generator at Costco for $700 so I'm curious. How does natural gas work with one of those? Could I simply have a plumber come to my house and install a gas line out to my backyard (something I considered doing for my BBQ grill anyway because I got sick of running out of propane tanks) and use that gas line? If that's all it takes, why do people do that super expensive option? If I use this method, it would mean I'd never need gasoline ever if I lose electricity and could just have it run on the natural gas line the entire time? Thanks in advance, I'm sure these are really stupid questions Chumbawumba4ever97 fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Dec 20, 2020 |
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Dec 20, 2020 19:57
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You have natural gas already? Then natural gas is the way to go imo, they have units that start themselves up and run maintenance cycles automatically, negating the "hard start" problem you described. You might be annoyed by install costs on these, since a permanent generator install will probably remove that 4-prong inlet and replace it with a hardwired disconnect. You might get away with a 6kW unit, but 12 is a lot safer, especially if you're running window shakers off of it. The real answer is talk to a shop that does generator installs and get their opinion on it, they'll come out and do the load calculations for you. I don't have any experience with trifuel generators personally, I guess the advantage over nat gas only is you could run them on petrol if the gas is out too? Doesn't seem like you'd be able to get that either in that sort of extreme event then, and I don't personally see an advantage. E: if you want to go the cheapest/easiest route, buy a nice 6kW generator and remember to haul it out and run it a couple times a year. Elviscat fucked around with this message at 20:10 on Dec 20, 2020 |
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Dec 20, 2020 20:08
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The only issue with a natural gas generator is if you live in an earthquake area, that could disrupt your natural gas when you need it for the generator, so consider a propane generator, or one that can also be run on propane. Either propane or natural gas is the way to go though. The shelf life on natural gas is infinite, gasoline has to be swapped out every once in a while. As far as sizing, I can't really help you there. I have a small generator I keep around so that I can keep my fridge and gas water heater going if I'm ever in an extended blackout, so my knowledge is limited to those.
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Dec 20, 2020 20:14
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Thanks a billion! So essentially I wasted time and money on going to 200amp service? I didn't realize that even if I used natural gas that I wouldn't still need that outdoor electric outlet. I was under the impression that even with natural gas I'd still need to plug the generator into that outlet so it would power my electrical panel? I know starting from scratch that having a natural gas powered generator setup was somewhere in the $20,000 range which was way out of what I wanted to spend on this. But from what I understand, that's a completely new setup where you need to install a special large generator on the side of the house that kicks in as soon as the power is lost. I'm assuming I can just run a gas line from my basement to my yard and plug that into the $700 Costco generator? And then never run out of electricity during an outage?
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Dec 20, 2020 20:20
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Chumbawumba4ever97 posted:Thanks a billion! So essentially I wasted time and money on going to 200amp service? I didn't realize that even if I used natural gas that I wouldn't still need that outdoor electric outlet. I was under the impression that even with natural gas I'd still need to plug the generator into that outlet so it would power my electrical panel? I would not say you wasted any money going to 200amp service. Even if you don't need that capacity now, you will in the future as electric cars and other modern stuff becomes more popular. If you want a generator that can power your houses circuits and not just individual appliances one at a time, you need to have a generator interlock to be able to hook it up to your electrical system to power multiple breakers at a time. Unless you're spending $Texas money on a generator you probably won't be trying to power your entire 200 amp service, and the interlock panel will specifically be tied into whatever circuits you deem as needing power during an outage. As far as running a natural gas hose out to your generator. I think that's possible to do within code, but you would want to ask a generator specialist or someone better than me. Depending on the size of the generator, it may require a higher volume of gas that can be provided that way. Most natural gas generators I have seen are the giant ones that are permanently mounted to the side of the house, and thus have a hard-pipe connection to the natural gas supply and are like 300,000 BTU.
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Dec 20, 2020 20:30
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SpartanIvy posted:As far as running a natural gas hose out to your generator. I think that's possible to do within code, but you would want to ask a generator specialist or someone better than me. Depending on the size of the generator, it may require a higher volume of gas that can be provided that way. Most natural gas generators I have seen are the giant ones that are permanently mounted to the side of the house, and thus have a hard-pipe connection to the natural gas supply and are like 300,000 BTU. In most installs the service entrance for the gas is the same as for electric. Meaning there's no need to go through the house with the gas piping. It can come straight off the meter - which may need to be upsized - and off of it's own regulator straight from the consumer side of the meter. Even if the generator is elsewhere, the gas piping is typically buried and run from there.
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Dec 20, 2020 20:36
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SpartanIvy posted:If you want a generator that can power your houses circuits and not just individual appliances one at a time, you need to have a generator interlock to be able to hook it up to your electrical system to power multiple breakers at a time. Unless you're spending $Texas money on a generator you probably won't be trying to power your entire 200 amp service, and the interlock panel will specifically be tied into whatever circuits you deem as needing power during an outage. Yeah I have a generator interlock installed (I had it done when I upgraded to 200 amps). I fully admit however, that I have absolutely no idea which outlets are "tied" to it. I am assuming this is something my electrician did? Or is it possible he just wired it to support the entire house? (I'd take a pic of the panel with the front cover off but I'd have to kill the power to get the cover off and it would wake up my 2 year old who is currently napping with a noise machine on). SpartanIvy posted:As far as running a natural gas hose out to your generator. I think that's possible to do within code, but you would want to ask a generator specialist or someone better than me. Depending on the size of the generator, it may require a higher volume of gas that can be provided that way. Most natural gas generators I have seen are the giant ones that are permanently mounted to the side of the house, and thus have a hard-pipe connection to the natural gas supply and are like 300,000 BTU. Yeah the expensive 300,000BTU gas generator you are talking about is the one I always thought you needed to use natural gas on a generator. Which is why I always assumed I was going to have to use gasoline. This is why I am confused that a $700 generator from Costco can supposedly work with natural gas from the home. My entire ceiling is completely open (unfinished on the half of the basement that has all the gas and electric stuff) and a friend who looked at everything said it would be really easy to just run a gas pipe to my backyard. If I could hire a plumber to do that, and run a majority of my house on that instead of gasoline, I would love that. I have no clue how to research if that's possible though!
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Dec 20, 2020 20:52
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Chumbawumba4ever97 posted:Thanks a billion! So essentially I wasted time and money on going to 200amp service? I didn't realize that even if I used natural gas that I wouldn't still need that outdoor electric outlet. I was under the impression that even with natural gas I'd still need to plug the generator into that outlet so it would power my electrical panel? Unless your setup is more involved than most, $20k is a very high estimate (assuming not a high COL area), most are half-ish of that. I wouldn't say you wasted money upgrading to a 200A base, but that would have been the most cost-effective time to get the transfer switch and all installed. It could still possibly be added without having to re-do your existing panel, just one of those things that "it depends". I'd suggest getting a few quotes before committing to a standalone you have to drag out. With your stated concerns, you really sound like the ideal setup for a NG auto-start whole home genset.
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Dec 20, 2020 21:13
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Maybe it would be good to link to the costco generator you are interested in and someone can give some opinions/sanity check on it.
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Dec 20, 2020 23:10
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Is it this unit? Anyone have any experience with these? I'm curious how it switches fuels, and also how you're meant to hook it up to the natural gas supply, I've never seen a generator that runs on NG wasn't hard piped. Does it use some kind of QD fitting? Or are you meant to break out the wrenches each time you run it? Either option seems like it could be a safety hazard if you're not diligent about capping the lines and shutting valves each time you unhook it. CW, if you're not already aware, any multi fuel generator takes a kick in the pants output-wise when run on NG. Do you know the capacity of that inlet the sparky that did your service put in? If it's a 30A then there's no point in going to a >6ish kW (net) generator.
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Dec 20, 2020 23:29
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:corgski: 14/3 SJOOW? Man, when when we were doing temp light strings, we could only use SO-flavored cords, nothing SJ at all. I suspect it's because nobody except the electricians on the jobsite would ever move temp power cords to avoid running over them with the scissor lifts. When you're putting everything on a truck every week the volume on that thicker insulation adds up fast, it could be the difference between fitting all your ground looms in one caddilac or having to add a second to your truck pack easy. (Or having to find places to stash some of it on meat racks or in spares cases, which also sucks.) Plus it's easier to snake thinner cable through the set in general. On jobsites though, I'm not surprised you'd want the heavier stuff.
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Dec 20, 2020 23:37
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Thanks so much for the replies. Yes this is the generator https://www.costco.com/firman-7500w-running--9400w-peak-tri-fuel-generator.product.100648883.html Here's a picture of the new panel in my basement:  I hope it answers the questions! I was hoping to just buy that Costco one, and have a gas line plugged into it (same as you'd use for a barbecue or whatever) and run off of that. I'm taking it that it's not possible?
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Dec 21, 2020 00:02
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Nice, that looks set up correctly, just be aware you might have to turn stuff off to get under your 25A limit on the generator, hopefully they did a good job load balancing Looks like all your heat, HW, and stove are on gas, so you should be set with the 5500W from that Costco genny. I don't think anyone here has experience hooking up a portable generator to a gas line, try asking the plumbing thread, or call the genset manufacturer about what they recommend? Or call a plumber. If you find out how it all works I'd be interested in hearing about it in this thread, maybe post pics of the install?
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Dec 21, 2020 00:25
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Call your NG utility and ask if they assist in NG generator hookups. You might get lucky and they offer to do it for you for a bargain. Otherwise call whichever electrician wired up that panel for you and tell them what you're buying and who they would suggest for the NG hookup, or if they can handle it all for you. They should be happy to help you out because it's in their best interest to ensure you get the generator installed and load tested correctly.
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Dec 21, 2020 00:31
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Elviscat posted:Nice, that looks set up correctly, just be aware you might have to turn stuff off to get under your 25A limit on the generator, hopefully they did a good job load balancing Looks like all your heat, HW, and stove are on gas, so you should be set with the 5500W from that Costco genny. Sure! I'll definitely post results. I'll order that Costco generator regardless. And if it turns out all I need is a pipe running some CNG to it, I'll definitely give you all the info. If it requires some huge expense though I'll probably just be using petroleum. Also is there a good way to determine if they distributed the loads properly? And how do I make sure I'm using 25 amps or less? Does the generator actually tell me how many I'm using or something? H110Hawk posted:Call your NG utility and ask if they assist in NG generator hookups. You might get lucky and they offer to do it for you for a bargain. Otherwise call whichever electrician wired up that panel for you and tell them what you're buying and who they would suggest for the NG hookup, or if they can handle it all for you. They should be happy to help you out because it's in their best interest to ensure you get the generator installed and load tested correctly. Gonna text the electrician now. Thanks so much! Chumbawumba4ever97 fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Dec 21, 2020 |
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Dec 21, 2020 02:30
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You may want to do some research into total harmonic distortion(THD), I believe those Fireman generators from Costco, like many cheap portables, only advertise as <25% which is a bottom of the barrel number and way beyond the <5% recommended. That's more than I'd risk personally. Since you're only looking at under 7kw you may want to just get an inverter unit, unless you're spending over $3k they're the only way to get that low THD I'm aware of. All that said I wanted more power, and have a 50amp receptacle on my transfer switch so I rolled the dice on a dual fuel 12k unit with an advertised <10% THD
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Dec 21, 2020 03:20
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Yeah, I'd imagine there's a reason those firman units cost 1/3 what an equivalent Honda does...
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Dec 21, 2020 03:27
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I don't really have thousands of dollars to spend on a generator, though I did research total harmonic distortion. It seems as though it's a bad idea to run sensitive electronics on a $800 generator, and to be honest I probably wasn't going to during an outage anyway. So if I lose power in my home, I'll unplug my server, my computer in my office, and all my televisions, then turn the generator on. Hopefully that will be enough? I asked the electrician and he said nothing else needs to be done to my panel to run off of gas. I talked to my plumber, and he said all he needs to do is run a pipe to my backyard, and I can plug the Costco one in and that will work with my panel, which is awesome news. I'm so glad I looked up tri-fuel before ordering the generator. The only thing the electrician said that was a little confusing was "Take a look at the available watts on the fuel source. Using natural gas, you can only use 2/3 ". I am guessing for a 7500 watt generator, that means I will only get about 5,000 if using gas? Which I guess means I will only be able to run less stuff on it than gasoline, but I will still never have to worry about it running out of fuel or anything like that? Chumbawumba4ever97 fucked around with this message at 14:43 on Dec 21, 2020 |
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Dec 21, 2020 14:38
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Chumbawumba4ever97 posted:The only thing the electrician said that was a little confusing was "Take a look at the available watts on the fuel source. Using natural gas, you can only use 2/3 ". I am guessing for a 7500 watt generator, that means I will only get about 5,000 if using gas? Which I guess means I will only be able to run less stuff on it than gasoline, That's exactly what it means. NG just isn't very energy dense. Chumbawumba4ever97 posted:but I will still never have to worry about it running out of fuel or anything like that? Assuming an uninterrupted natural gas supply at a time when you already have at least one utility already interrupted.......
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Dec 21, 2020 15:05
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Chumbawumba4ever97 posted:I don't really have thousands of dollars to spend on a generator, though I did research total harmonic distortion. It seems as though it's a bad idea to run sensitive electronics on a $800 generator, and to be honest I probably wasn't going to during an outage anyway. So if I lose power in my home, I'll unplug my server, my computer in my office, and all my televisions, then turn the generator on. Hopefully that will be enough? Since you have to go to the panel to switch between utility power and generator power, I would just switch off the breakers for circuits I don't plan on using. Mark the ones you want ON with a sticker or something, and switch them off when going to generator power. Switch them back on when you go back to utility power. On the other hand, everything seems to have sensitive electronics in it now. That includes refrigerators and furnaces, which are #1 priority on my list for backup power.
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Dec 21, 2020 15:21
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Motronic posted:Assuming an uninterrupted natural gas supply at a time when you already have at least one utility already interrupted....... Depending on where he lives, that's a very reasonable scenario. Think ice storms that take out electric lines for days.
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Dec 21, 2020 15:34
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