emergancy generator hookup to furnace

Landpimp · 12-11-08, 04:11 PM

Warning!
I aint in the mood to be preached at today....trust me its been a VERY bad week on a personal level, one of the worst ever.....so I just want to be able to provide heat for Connie and I if needed this winter if we have a major outage as we did 2 years ago(7 days)

See if this will work.

gas furnace, uses very little power, less than 15amps. Has its own breaker box.

Figured I could just cut the wires(3) between the breaker box and the furnace, then just install a male/female plugs like on an extention cord. When the power goes out, I just unplug the 2 ends, and plug the generator into the furance end and furance will work just like normal, its a brand new Trane gas furance

this should work right? cant see why it wont. 3 wires, black(power) green and white

yes my house is not wired proper for a generator but I have worked around that with no issues(even from the light company, who knows I do it like this) I just switch off the mains(in 2 places, inside and out) and backfeed the house thru the 230v unused drier outlet, but only some circuts work(like every other on the panel, funance is one that doesnt) but the stuff we need does, well pump, septic pump, good deal of lights etc. All we need is the furnace

and please no crap about how I do it, it can cuase NO harm(except maybe to me), even if the house somehow backfeed the mains the generator would trip as it was trying to backfeed the neighborhood and just overload in a mila second.

dad is doing pretty much the same, just going to power up the boiler for the floor radiant heat, to run their home would cost 20-30K for the correct set up(home as a commerical elevator in it)

Chang-kuao-lo · 12-11-08, 04:17 PM

Just shut the mains off and you're good to go...

FJ40_owner · 12-11-08, 04:17 PM

It will work. As you wrote NOT to code. Insurance could deny you etc....

Purchase a good quality male / female connector.

Be careful when connecting it up in an outage.

Smoke detectors all installed, tested and in good working order.

yooper · 12-11-08, 04:19 PM

Sounds okay.

Sorry you had a bad week.

Chang-kuao-lo · 12-11-08, 04:22 PM

Bad wiring will 99.99% of the time will go for a shit within the first hour or so of running. If you're a little paranoid, just go and check on it a couple of times during the first 90mins or so. Warm wires, OK. Hot, like burn your finger hot, bad.

Feel free to vent, if you want...

Capt. Jim · 12-11-08, 04:32 PM

Sounds like you've got a 110 volt generator. Thats why only every-other circuit works when you back-feed the dryer outlet. Most likely, your blower motor on your heater is 220 volt. Check it out first. If it is 220 volt, you will need a 220 volt generator feed.

Chang-kuao-lo · 12-11-08, 04:45 PM

If the furnace is 220V, there will be two "hot" wires, ie green(ground), black(hot 110V), white(common), red(hot 110V). The breaker for the furnace will tell you if it's 110 or 220. 220 will occupy two slots on the load centre.

semlin · 12-11-08, 06:42 PM

if it is 220v you also should use a 220 volt plug set instead of regular plug.

running lumex wire directly from a breaker box to a female extension cord plug connector is pretty egregiously mickey mouse but i guess it will work.

you can get this closer to code and much safer pretty cheaply

get some 20 amp dryer wire and wire it to the connectors on your furnace where the lumex ends now and attach a proper male plug (220 or 110) to the other end.

-buy an external mount interior single gang junction box and screw or nail it to the wall near the furnace

-put the correct plug in it and run your lumex wire from the breaker box into that junction box and onto the plug and ground it while you are at it.

-put a face plate on for good measure

this is about $40 worth of stuff

Red Herring · 12-11-08, 06:45 PM

You should really install a transfer switch. Not hard to do, and it would be safer.

decavo · 12-11-08, 06:46 PM

just make sure you use a SO or SJ cord for this hook up .. this grade of wire has better insulation on it and is a softer copper. I lived in Hurricane country for years and that is the way I did it. I am a elect by trade. Just do not use electronics or a tv you care about.

bpassmore · 12-11-08, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by semlin

if it is 220v you also should use a 220 volt plug set instead of regular plug.

running lumex wire directly from a breaker box to a female extension cord plug connector is pretty egregiously mickey mouse but i guess it will work.

you can get this closer to code and much safer pretty cheaply

get some 20 amp dryer wire and wire it to the connectors on your furnace where the lumex ends now and attach a proper male plug (220 or 110) to the other end.

-buy an external mount interior single gang junction box and screw or nail it to the wall near the furnace

-put the correct plug in it and run your lumex wire from the breaker box into that junction box and onto the plug and ground it while you are at it.

-put a face plate on for good measure

this is about $40 worth of stuff

i did something similar to the main at my house.
I was getting prepared for Ike, and wanted to run as much of the house as possible when we lost power.

Various Images from my Ike Adventure

With this I could run everything in the house on a 5500/8500 generator EXCEPT the AC, the electric dryer, and the microwave. (The damn microwave took 25 amps by itself)

We had power in the house within 15 min of losing utility power.

as soon as we lost service, we disconnected the service main, removed the neutral leg, flipped the small disconnect, and plugged in the generator.

worked great. Saved $800 over going with an auto-switch.

john_eckels · 12-11-08, 07:52 PM

I got Amazon.com: Reliance Controls PB30 30 Amp Power Inlet Box: Home Improvement and an NEM L14 power cord. I wired the power inlet box to a 40 amp breaker in the box. Just make sure the breaker is turnd off when not using and the main breaker is off when backfeeding

bpassmore · 12-11-08, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john_eckels

Just make sure the breaker is turnd off when not using and the main breaker is off when backfeeding

this is not enough. the neutral bar can and will still carry current even when the main is disconnected.

when i setup my disconnect panel, i tested voltage across the busses after main disconnect. i found that my (fairly new and well built house) wiring allowed for bleed through back to the common (neutral) bar.

be sure to switch off the main, and manually disconnect the neutral buss when doing this.

I use a dual pole 60 amp breaker in my main panel and fed into that.

bpassmore · 12-11-08, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john_eckels

I got Amazon.com: Reliance Controls PB30 30 Amp Power Inlet Box: Home Improvement and an NEM L14 power cord.

that is what I have pictured in the link above.

here is a closer image

Landpimp · 12-12-08, 07:45 AM

Jim, we talked about this 2 years ago when I was without power for 7 days, you gave me good ideas then

my furnace is 110 and gas, it just needs to power the fan and circut board, it runs on less than 15 amps(as thats the breaker it comes off)

my generator is 220/110

its the way my panel is wired(I thought it was you that explained it to me) as to why every other circut works, as my well pump is 220v and it runs fine when I backfeed the house

I have two discounects, one right at the meter and one at the main panel in the house, the lineman from the power company actaully checked it for me last storm and no power was feeding to the main lines

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capt. Jim

Sounds like you've got a 110 volt generator. Thats why only every-other circuit works when you back-feed the dryer outlet. Most likely, your blower motor on your heater is 220 volt. Check it out first. If it is 220 volt, you will need a 220 volt generator feed.

Landpimp · 12-12-08, 07:46 AM

BTW......thanks for not preaching.....Ill let ya all beat me up latter

Doug_S · 12-12-08, 07:48 AM

John, sorry to hear that you're having a bad week. I'm getting the generator ready as well. It sounds like we're in for quite a storm. I don't know about Gig Harbor but here in Olympia we usually get a load of bad weather when it goes to s**t. Good luck!

cruiser88 · 12-12-08, 07:59 AM

Surge protection for the board in your furnace which you need anyway.

Junk · 12-12-08, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Landpimp

BTW......thanks for not preaching.....Ill let ya all beat me up latter

Ok, it's been long enough.

You fuckless wonder.

Sorry you had a bad week man.

shelfboy1 · 12-12-08, 08:59 AM

being a lineman for a few years the biggest problem with generators is they back feed and the line man get hurt.the way you plan to do it is simple and cant back feed with the furnace unplluged and plugged into the generator. just use the proper plugs and correct wire size.and you will be good .