SIGforum
Gas generator hazards

This topic can be found at:
https://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/320601935/m/7630043034

September 14, 2017, 08:38 AM
tleddy
Gas generator hazards
Every gas generator has Warnings on it in BIG letters about not using in the house or garage... and yet, it is still being done.

We are up to six or eight fatalities in Central Florida from running the inside the house!

Darwin in action?


No quarter
.308/.223
September 14, 2017, 08:53 AM
Some Shot
Evidently.

RTFM.
.
September 14, 2017, 09:19 AM
HayesGreener
Every year people kill themselves and their families with generators, hibachi grills for heat inside, etc. People are clueless and probably thought they were clever with the generators. The tragedy is they so often kill the entire family while they are sleeping with this stupidity.

On another note we read a warning from LE in Pinellas County that some dumbass was telling people they could use a dryer cord to jump power from a generator to the meter box to power their whole house, which presents a hazard of electrocution to linemen working on the power lines. A little bit of knowledge can be a very dangerous thing, when combined with native stupidity it can be tragic.


CMSGT USAF (Retired)
Chief of Police (Retired)
September 14, 2017, 09:37 AM
radioman
quote:
Originally posted by HayesGreener:


On another note we read a warning from LE in Pinellas County that some dumbass was telling people they could use a dryer cord to jump power from a generator to the meter box to power their whole house, which presents a hazard of electrocution to linemen working on the power lines. A little bit of knowledge can be a very dangerous thing, when combined with native stupidity it can be tragic.


Yup. and if the power company catches someone doing this, they get disconnected for a LONG time, pending inspections, etc.


.
September 14, 2017, 11:00 AM
sigcrazy7
quote:
Originally posted by radioman:
quote:
Originally posted by HayesGreener:


On another note we read a warning from LE in Pinellas County that some dumbass was telling people they could use a dryer cord to jump power from a generator to the meter box to power their whole house, which presents a hazard of electrocution to linemen working on the power lines. A little bit of knowledge can be a very dangerous thing, when combined with native stupidity it can be tragic.


Yup. and if the power company catches someone doing this, they get disconnected for a LONG time, pending inspections, etc.


Growing up where the power was out all the time, my folks did this frequently. Safe for the linemen if the main disconnect is off or the meter is pulled. But yea, a transfer switch is certainly the way to go. If the lineman follows his protocols and grounds both sides of the line, he shouldn't be harmed by some dumbass trying to power the whole neighborhood with his Honda.

It was strange because my uncle, who was a high up muckity-muck at Appalachian Power Co, and a former lineman, used to back feed his house the same way. I guess consumer transfer switches weren't so common 40 years ago. Or perhaps people were just as lazy and cheap then as now.


Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well. -Epictetus
September 14, 2017, 11:45 AM
cne32507
quote:
Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
quote:
Originally posted by radioman:
quote:
Originally posted by HayesGreener:


On another note we read a warning from LE in Pinellas County that some dumbass was telling people they could use a dryer cord to jump power from a generator to the meter box to power their whole house, which presents a hazard of electrocution to linemen working on the power lines. A little bit of knowledge can be a very dangerous thing, when combined with native stupidity it can be tragic.


Yup. and if the power company catches someone doing this, they get disconnected for a LONG time, pending inspections, etc.


Growing up where the power was out all the time, my folks did this frequently. Safe for the linemen if the main disconnect is off or the meter is pulled. But yea, a transfer switch is certainly the way to go. If the lineman follows his protocols and grounds both sides of the line, he shouldn't be harmed by some dumbass trying to power the whole neighborhood with his Honda.

It was strange because my uncle, who was a high up muckity-muck at Appalachian Power Co, and a former lineman, used to back feed his house the same way. I guess consumer transfer switches weren't so common 40 years ago. Or perhaps people were just as lazy and cheap then as now.


Good advice: Pull the mains and you have isolated your (undamaged) house from the grid. Take the fuse box or breakers inside. I did this after Ivan. Two weeks without power, a month without phone or DSL. But the cable was up in a few days.

I feel for those who have installed natural gas whole-house backup generators. The gas is cut off when hurricane damage is imminent.