Can you plug generator into outlet

If you found one and think it is totally isolated from the main breaker, even though this is still illegal , you will have to deal with something called a:. That many people believe should not exist in a first-place due to how dangerous it is! With a normal cord, when one side goes into the outlet, the other is protected by prongs being inside and hidden.

It is extremely easy to get an electric shock from the other side, anybody could grab it by accident! Do not just think of yourself, consider that there are people around you that could get hurt!

It is NOT worth the risk! Not to mention that using an already wired outlet for wrong purposes generator could burn up your house and be backed into utilities if the outlet is not isolated and that means you endanger the lives of lineman fixing the problem.

Did I mention it was illegal? When a generator is improperly connected to a home electrical system whether through outlet or panel without transfer switch , you will have two main problems:. An extension cord on one end has prongs, and on the other, it has a socket. NOT double prongs on each end! It looks like this:. Because there is no way to touch live parts within the socket since they are hidden! Both ends of a suicide cable have prongs.

That means if you touch it as it becomes live, you can easily get an electrical shock. Yes, you can have an outlet dedicated to your generator, as long as it is NOT connected to main house wiring and the wire is appropriately sized. Even if your electrician checked the existing outlet for the mains connection, he could make a mistake, and you will pay for it!

This outlet will be an inlet or male receptacle on the outside and all you have to do is use a regular generator plug or extension to use it. Once again, if you find a female receptacle in your garage and even if you remember to turn the main power OFF while using your generator with a suicide cord it is still unlawful and very dangerous to use!

Along with that you will need the professional installation from a trained electrician to ensure that everything is setup correctly and safely.

For more safety information on generators please check out our Generator Safety Guide by clicking here. We do not directly sell any products or refrigerants, but rather provide information, knowledge, and explanations to the consumer. This content is provided 'As is' and is subject to change or removal at any time. By johnsonalec41 Sep 30, You may also like. The power rating for the generator is 6kW, and I want to run my electric water heater 4.

The water heater is the main priority, but it's wired directly to the house so I can't just unplug an outlet and plug it into the generator.

The method I've heard used most often is to backfeed into the dryer outlet after turning off the main breaker. I'm aware that if I don't turn off the main breaker, I could shock a worker or destroy the generator when the power comes pack on. I also know enough that I have to use a power line rated for the Amperage I'll be drawing.

Are there any other dangers I need to look out for? I had a friend suggest that I deactivate one of the heating elements and thereby reduce the amount of power that the water heater will draw. I'm guessing I'd still need V rather than , but I'm not sure. It would be awesome if I could just use a 12 or 14 gauge extension cord instead of a really expensive 10 gauge, but I don't want to do anything that will catch my house on fire.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. It's been eight days since we've been without power, and possibly more until it's restored. What you are suggesting with a back-feed cord is possible, but not recommend for a bunch of reasons, including the ones you mentioned.

The first thing that comes to mind in terms of simplicity is replacing the power wire on the water heater with a cord made for a dryer and plug it in to the generator. When your power crisis is over, you can either wire the hot water heater back, or install an outlet.

The next best thing to do is to buy a transfer switch sub-panel, install it, and move the circuits you want to keep using to that sub-panel. You know what, I'm going to repeat the answer found here to the same question. Here's that answer, short and sweet and to the point:. Look, transfer switches. Check out this story , where backfeeding a generator like this started a fire that burned the generator, the neighbor's house, the neighbor's motorhome, the neighbor's race car hauler, a boat, and an SUV.

Fun times, huh? Check out this post , where a retired lineman talks about how many times he's seen broken main breakers that still let current through even when they were OFF. Tell me that an injury caused by you turning on your generator and feeding power back onto a damaged electrical grid where people are working to repair the lines, and into your neighbor's homes during a crisis won't be actionable?

The NEC requires a transfer switch and not for trivial or capricious reasons. That's good enough for me. You'll dump power stepped up to at least 7, Volts by the transformer outside, so it'll go for miles and miles on the power grid and electrocute a lineman doing repairs.

You, or more likely a spouse, visiting relative, or one of your kids, will forget to throw the main breaker before powering on the generator.

Or one of your kids' rambunctious friends will fire up your generator when you're not looking, on some sunny July afternoon. Guaranteed , especially since the generator will be needed seldom enough that nobody will remember the entire power-up checklist when the time comes. The whole point of the transfer switch being an interlock is that it only physically permits a connection to one power source at a time. If you do this, and none of the bad things happen to you, that's what we call blind dumb luck and you really shouldn't tempt fate like that more than once.

You've got the big one covered, turning off the main breaker. Without that, the voltage from the generator goes back out the power lines, into the transformer, where instead of getting stepped down to your house voltage will get stepped up to the line voltage, plus make previously dead wires, live. Given the options, using a dryer style plug for v is the way I would do it in your situation.

Back feeding v power will only send current down half of the breakers, and it would be easy to swap the neutral and the hot in this situation with v you have two hots, and ground and neutral are effectively the same wire. That said, the proper way is with a transfer switch that would prevent power from back feeding into the power mains and also a plug that doesn't allow for live exposed prongs. These can be installed, but the time to do so isn't when you've been out of power for days.

Just realize that using the dryer plug is almost certainly out of code compliance in your state. Words of caution include checking the amperage of your wiring the breaker on the dryer will have the number going to the plug and then avoid overloading the generator.

I wouldn't open up more breakers to major appliances than you have amperage to cover e. You can use the breakers to power one device at a time, fridge for a few hours, then the hot water, etc. And when the water is hot and fridge is cold, shutoff the generator to save gas and leave the fridge closed to keep it cool. Only other piece of advice I can think of is to make sure the exhaust is properly vented.

Far too many people don't think and run these indoors, giving themselves carbon monoxide poisoning. A transfer switch is the only way to go, it's only a few hundred bucks, the fee for an attorney for one hour. If you kill someone while back feeding your generator, the cost of a transfer switch is a drop in a bucket. On your water heater that uses V and has two elements, you will find that only one element is ever on at a time. When the top thermostat is satisfied, it will send power down to the lower thermostat.

If you ever have a problem with the top thermostat or element you will have no hot water. If the lower thermostat or element has a problem you will find you don't have as much hot water as you should.

So you are not saving power draw by disconnecting an element. There IS a sensible, safe, legal middle ground between backfeeding and a full-blown and expensive transfer switch: a circuit-breaker panel interlock switch.