Reminder: Never connect a generator to home wiring without transfer switch

Tue Aug 31 05:10:14 UTC 2021

Yes, most grounding out now that utilities do for work is all phases to one another, to the neutral and to the ground.

From: NANOG <nanog-bounces+john=vanoppen.com at nanog.org> On Behalf Of Mel Beckman
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2021 10:59 AM
To: Aaron C. de Bruyn <aaron at heyaaron.com>
Cc: NANOG Operators' Group <nanog at nanog.org>
Subject: Re: Reminder: Never connect a generator to home wiring without transfer switch

Aaron,

Your incorrect assumption is that lineman are tying phases to earth ground, a discontinued practice that killed many lineman up through 1980, despite its seeming faultless logic.

The current safety practice is called “equipotential grounding”, which doesn’t go to earth. Thus an backed can change the balance of potentials, resulting in lethal currents. As other have pointed out with real-word examples, this is a major safety issue, cause by the many “dumb enough” DIYers out there.

All explained elsewhere in the thread. I recommend you review the previous discussion, to avoid creating a NANOG bridge loop :)

 -mel

On Aug 30, 2021, at 9:43 AM, Aaron C. de Bruyn <aaron at heyaaron.com<mailto:aaron at heyaaron.com>> wrote:

I've been following the thread.
If I'm dumb enough to back feed through the transformer into the downstream side of the downed line, how is it going to be a problem if linemen are grounding the phases on *both sides* of the work area.
That's what Ben seemed to be implying.

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