I need to buy a Generator and am not sure how they power a whole home circut or 2 or 3?!?

Question

The generators I've seen a lowes have plugs in them that will allow you to plug in onr thing. How does it hook up to a single circut? Is there a plug in the gen. that will allow the plug-in end to be plugged into a wall socket?

Answer 1

My first advice is to call a licenced electriction but if you know a little about DIY. First turn OFF!! the main breaker (this sould be a big 200 amp breaker at the top inside your panel box)this disconnects the power from your home to the ouside line (if you miss this step the electrical workers working on the line from the power company can be killed!)Next create a double male extension cord one end to plug into the generator and the other to a outlet on the OUTSIDE of your home (never run a generater inside your home)next turn off any  breakers that you dont want power running to in your house. leave on the breaker that you have the double male pluged into and the other outlets you will use. You must also read not only the wattage on the generater and appliances you want to use but also the amperage and make sure you dont overload the amperage.  P.S. I am NOT an electrican but have been doing stuff like this for years and still good just respect electricity and youll be ok

Answer 2

By the questions you ask, you appear lost. Maybe this will help.

If you want to power the entire house, a Lowes  generator just won't get the job done.

Look in the yellow pages for a company that specializes in such things. You will need a switch over box, and other safety equipment too.

Are you total electric? If so, you might well need a 30 or 50KW unit. One of the Lowes 5500 Watt units will barely power an electric water heater, and should the pump, refrigerator or freezer kick on at the same time the internal breaker will trip. They won't run an AC or electric heat.

You need to match the unit to the load. Generack, Onan, Kohler and other manufacturers build these units and generally have dealers in all major cities.

Get it set up for LP gas, as this is the only fuel source available that the fuel won't go bad in storage.

Answer 3

A generator is designed to power one to two items. Drill, saw etc at one time. If you want to run a house on it , you have to have a special electrical panel installed on your home or it can be very dangerous. People have been killed in our area due to ignorance in this field. Let an electrician handle this.

Answer 4

There are many different generators. They have many uses. If you know about electricity you can use the small ones to power many things in your home. Yes you could plug 1 into a wall socket and power everything on that circuit. However, because both ends of the cord would have to be male, (with house power off or disconnected) plug into the wall socket 1st. then into generator. This would prevent you from being shocked. After Katrina, I powered 2 homes with a single 8500Watt generator. They could watch TV, have single room lights and run either a refrigerator or freezer. It used 15 gallons of gas daily!

With a 15kw or larger generator you could run everything in a small house. If you heated and cooked with gas it could even power up to about a 2.5 ton air conditioner.

Yes, if connected directly to the power panel they can power many things in different rooms.

There are some cautions about doing this. If NOT connected correctly and the power co was working on the lines they could be shocked by your generator.

Answer 5

The portable gasoline generators will provide anywhere from 2500 watts to 5500 watts. If you do not know electricity or how to hook it up to power your house, your best bet is an extension cord or two. You can get one that will plug into the 220 outlet on the generator and you can run it into the house. You would get 2 twenty amp 110 volt circuits or close to it. You could plug in a TV, refrigerator, lamps etc.

Be careful, there were two fatalities near here this month. The people ran the generator indoors to power their sump pump. They died of CO poisoning.

Answer 6

PLEASE be VERY careful with generators!! No problems if you want to buy one to run individual items plugged into it just like you plug them into a wall outlet...just be sure not to run it in an enclosed space [garage, basement, etc.] as the exhaust fumes are very dangerous. If you are thinking about powering things in your house during a power outage, dangers abound. "Double male cords" can give you a bad [or fatal] jolt if you don't know how to use them. Worse, If you don't properly disconnect your house from the power lines, and you connect a generator to you outlets, you can very easily electrocute power company employees working on the downed lines!!...even if they are far away. DO NOT DO THIS unless you know exactly what you are doing!! It's wrong to endanger those who are out trying to restore your power.Get a licensed electrician, or check with your power company.

Answer 7

Small generators will only power a small amount of things in your home. Hooking them up to your house requires a special device ( and larger generator ) that cuts off the line from electric pole and starts your generator and supplies the power to your home. If power from line comes back on it will switch back to pole electricity and your generator will turn off. They even have those that will run off gasoline, diesel, natural gas, or LP gas.

Answer 8

You need to figure what the load for the house is, and buy a generator accordingly.

To power the whole house, you will probably need at least 2KW.

Answer 9

First you have to disconnect the house from the power companies lines.

Second you have to have a SAFE way of hooking up you generator to the house.

Third your generator should be outside.

There are switches that you can use to switch from power company electricity to generator electricity both manual, semi automatic(switches power when electric company power is restored) and automatic(switches power when electric company power is restored and turns of your generator). Portable generators are designed for temporary use while you are there to observe. Find an electrician who can hook up a proper generator safely for you.

Answer 10

unless your having a whole house back up generator installed which cost anywhere from $8,000.00 to $12,000.00 in the chicagoland area.

but please do not hook up a standard generator onto your electric panel or outlet, as this can back feed out of the house, into the powerline and possibly kill or injure a electrician working to reinstate your power when it goes down or even a neighbor in his home.

it is best to contact your electric company to see what are your best options or contact a license electrician for further information.

http://www.generatorsafety.org/installat... and there are many others like this.

Answer 11

Call a qualified electrical contractor to do the work. If this is done wrong, you could kill somone and end being sued for everything you own.  To run a home for even a few emergency items, you'll need at least a 8KW. Also a properly installed transfer panel in the system.