Generator, non boaty

[simonfraser]

Petrol 2Kw gennie, wired up to supply my house

Worked fine in the old shed

Trial start today, no load, as in not connected to the house

lots of blue smoke straight away, not out of the exhaust ?

V odd, so I switched it off

I am fairly sure I wired it up the same way = to a dual pole throw switch off or on to house

i am ok using a multimeter but not too keen on leaving it running, blue smoke, whilst I check out the connections

Or start it and put the house load, under 2Kw, on it and see what happens ?

Suggestion please

 

[VicS]

Petrol 2Kw gennie, wired up to supply my house

Worked fine in the old shed

Trial start today, no load, as in not connected to the house

lots of blue smoke straight away, not out of the exhaust ?

V odd, so I switched it off

I am fairly sure I wired it up the same way = to a dual pole throw switch off or on to house

i am ok using a multimeter but not too keen on leaving it running, blue smoke, whilst I check out the connections

Or start it and put the house load, under 2Kw, on it and see what happens ?

Suggestion please

Suggestion please

Firstly, before you get the self appointed forum police on your case, move the post to the lounge

Check the wiring, esp of the switch, carefully before starting it up again.

I trust you have the correct system of switching installed if you are going to connect to the house wiring to prevent parallel connection with the incoming public supply.

 

[simonfraser]

the house bit has not been changed and is not parallel

hm, how do i move a thread ?? i did put 'non boaty' .....

 

[VicS]

I though someone might have picked this up during the evening.

I'd be concerned that the smoke indicates that for some reason , unknown at present , you have done some serious damage to your generator.

It would be wise to look at this possibility before trying it again. If it Appears to be Ok. Disconnect it completey from the switch and all circuits .

Start it up. Put a small load on it ( a lamp perhaps) if OK put a larger load on it ( electric fire).

If all is well reconnect to your switching, but do not connect to the house system yet. Test run it again. Now progress to connecting to the house wiring

I think you will find that to connect to your house you need a double pole double throw switch. It should either have a centre off position or be "break before make" type

This is wired as a "Transfer switch" so that the house wiring can either be connected to the generator or to the public electricity supply. It must not be possible to connect the generator to the electricity supply.

You may prefer to reconfigure you house wiring so that the essential circuits you wish to power from the generator are fed from a secondary fuse/circuit breaker panel. This can then be connected to the transfer switch rather than the whole house so that when necessary these circuits alone can be powered by the generator. This will avoid having to switch off high power items eg water heaters before switching over to the generator.

No you cant delete thread .. I was pulling your dangly bits.

 

[LadyInBed]

Where are you turning off Grid mains and where are you inputting Gen mains?

 

[VicS]

Where are you turning off Grid mains and where are you inputting Gen mains?

Thats the purpose of the transfer switch

 

[simonfraser]

Gen should have been disconnected from the grid

Assuming I have wired it up correctly and switched it off ...

I will double check that before starting it again, the house electric and shed electric were unaffected, so I recon it was running without being connected

Shall have another go, guilable me

 

[William_H]

I would reiterate Vic 's excellent comment. I would imagine that if both electricity public supply and generator outputs were conected in parallel then the results might be more than blue smke unless this is an inverter type generator. (as different from an alternator running at 3000 or 1500 RPM continuous).
Anyway I would steer clear of the chage over switch apart from the fact that it may well be illegal. either to fit it or for you to fit it if you are not a licensed electrician. If you are you should know if it is legal.
Far better I think is to leave you hose wiring as is. Run your generator output up to the house to separate wiring and a multi socket outlet board. So each individual item ie fridge must be unplugged from the house wiring and moved to you outlet board. Use lamps that run on 3 pin plug and just do without fixed lighting. This arrangement while not so convenient will mean that house lights will come on when electricity is restored so giving you warning. It will also mean that the load is gently applied to your generator item by item. good luck with the generator. olewill

 

[sarabande]

where is this blue smoke coming from ? You say not the exhaust, so is it the genny housing ?

 

[simonfraser]

yep, genny housing, which is v odd

been raining all day, so not a good time to mess with it, but shall disconnect it completely, then run it again and go from there.

 

[VicS]

yep, genny housing, which is v odd

been raining all day, so not a good time to mess with it, but shall disconnect it completely, then run it again and go from there.

But would you care to post a diagram of how you propose to connect it to the house wiring. You may have a perfectly satisfactory and safe scheme in mind but I not sure some of us are totally convinced at the moment.

 

[LadyInBed]

Thats the purpose of the transfer switch

Ah! That would be the "I am fairly sure I wired it up the same way = to a dual pole throw switch off or on to house"

 

[VicS]

Ah! That would be the "I am fairly sure I wired it up the same way = to a dual pole throw switch off or on to house"

Yes but it should be a DPDT switch wired as a DP change over switch which switches the house , or a specific small number of house circuits , between the mains supply and the generator.

My fear is that the OP is not using a DPDT switch, which must be of the "break before make" type or have a centre off.

 

[simonfraser]

Yes but it should be a DPDT switch wired as a DP change over switch which switches the house , or a specific small number of house circuits , between the mains supply and the generator.

My fear is that the OP is not using a DPDT switch, which must be of the "break before make" type or have a centre off.

I'll have to post you a pict, but when I set it up went to a proper local electrical shop and asked them for the switch.
Looks like a switch you'd have on your fuse board, blue lever, up / down.

 

[rogerthebodger]

" Looks like a switch you'd have on your fuse board, blue lever, up / down. "

Don't think that is the correct type of switch

The switch DPDT must be a double pole change over type. The common of each pole must be connected to the house wiring and the in comming mains connect to the normally closed connection and the generator to the normally open.