gernerator

We had a nasty ice storm this spring and pulled down all the power lines and a lot of poles in our area. The crews worked very hard to put the lines back up but the damage was quite severe and our power was out for just under 5 days.

It is amazing how dependant we have become on power. After the first day we began to miss the luxuries like water,sewer,heat,light,etc.

After I made a few phone calls it was apparent that the power would be down for a minute or two.

I had bought a gen-set last year to run my electric chainsaw (I like my chain saw. Starts first pull and idles nice and quiet) It was time to figure out how to make it power the house.

Of course I didn't have the proper plug for it. So as always I did an inventory. I did have a couple of ratty extension cords that were not being used at the moment since the power was out anyway.

With the cord ends modified to fit the plug the next step was to identify which of the 4 wires was hot and neutral. I located my trouble light with a cheap incandesant bulb and randomly tried a couple of wires. The second combination in and my trouble light made a VERY bright flash and quit. At this point I am thinking that this must be 220 volts and was that my last bulb?

I would also like to point out that the main breaker is off and there is a padlock through it. Safety first. Please read the BIG disclaimer.

This unit ran for the most part the house for the 5 days the power was out. I did have to run the deep freeze at night when I could shut the water and septic off. I also now have a list of things that can be shut off when power is limited like air compessor,beer fridge,horse water heater, etc.

Now the need is past, maybe I'll get to town and get the right plug before our next big storm.

back to the home page