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Floating ground- portable generator - goaliedad - 03-01-2023
Help a guy out please.
My son bought a portable Generac Generator- I will be installing an outside connection and an interconnect to prevent back feeding the grid.
When I did mine I changed the wiring on the generator to separate the ground and neutral. I have a wire that is connected to the chassis of the generator and hooks up to the ground rod at the house. So far it has worked very well.
I want to make sure I am doing this properly for my son’s house.
Any advice?
RE: Floating ground- portable generator - crokett™ - 03-02-2023
My old house I had a portable generator. It did not have the appropriate outlet on it to wire to a transfer panel so I added one. In the process of doing that based on advice from this forum I separated the ground and neutral on the generator. I put in a separate ground rod for the generator as that was easier than trying to tie it back to the one for the house. Of course separating the ground and neutral makes the generator a bit less safe for just every day use but I don't think I ever used it for anything other than powering the house.
RE: Floating ground- portable generator - Roly - 03-02-2023
(03-02-2023, 12:50 PM)crokett™ Wrote: My old house I had a portable generator. It did not have the appropriate outlet on it to wire to a transfer panel so I added one. In the process of doing that based on advice from this forum I separated the ground and neutral on the generator. I put in a separate ground rod for the generator as that was easier than trying to tie it back to the one for the house. Of course separating the ground and neutral makes the generator a bit less safe for just every day use but I don't think I ever used it for anything other than powering the house.
I think separating the ground and neutral is if you would connect to a panel where the ground and neutral are separate such as a sub panel it will prevent regrounding the neutral at other than the main which would allow circulating currents. Along with confusing the gfci's . Roly
RE: Floating ground- portable generator - crokett™ - 03-02-2023
(03-02-2023, 01:42 PM)Roly Wrote: I think separating the ground and neutral is if you would connect to a panel where the ground and neutral are separate such as a sub panel it will prevent regrounding the neutral at other than the main which would allow circulating currents. Along with confusing the gfci's . Roly
Well I was doing that, at least indirectly through a transfer switch.