Ready To Wire The House

[Ajzride]

Note that Ford is advertising their Lightning w/9.6kW inverter as able to power up a house. This would face a similar problem with the in house neutral-ground bonding versus the floating neutral or neutral-ground bonding in the inverter. In other words: Ford has a solution to the problem, so just put it out to us F-150 Powerboost guys...

the 80 amp charger for the lightening basically has a neutral switching transfer switch built in.

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[BLoflin]

As to the kW needed... a small 3 kW generator will power most of a house except the hotwater heater, dryer, A/C unit and oven... The idea that you might need a 50 kW generator? Come on... As to the number of slots in a panel... so why did you go thru that litany? The issue was simply whether one would limit the number of circuits just to accomodate the use of a neutral switching breaker when the PB generator has all the power you need...? I've run my whole house on a small 4kW generator (really just 3 kW given my altitude) for several weeks and it operated just fine for all circuits, except the hot water heater, dryer and oven (each of which were in the realm of 3 to 4 kW load and I don't have an A/C unit). The PB generator will run two of those three big loads at the same time just fine.

Assume you were responding to my post....

I was trying to respond to the concern there was "no whole house neutral switching breaker box".

Also, I have no idea how your response that "a small 3 kw generator will power most of a house", and then you except water heater, dryer, A/C and oven, provides any guidance.

A hair dryer on high, or a good vacuum, will put 1200 to 1500 Watts.

The fact that you specifically can live in a house without A/C, and get by without hot water, ovens, etc, is probably not the situation or solution he was looking for, during a power outage.

Anyone can pick up a 3KW generator for less than $500, if that is all you need, you wouldn't be looking for solutions in this forum.

 

[Gros Ventre]

The fact is that unless you're using three hair dryers simultaneoulsy that 3 kW unit will work just fine. It carries a refrigerator, freezer, well pump, two ro three room light sets, TV, satellite dish unit, Computers & wireless, washer, dishwasher, gas furnace, microwave, etc. You just don't run these things all at the same time... I lived that way just fine for some two weeks after a recent wildfire blew thru my community. Yeah I took cold showers, yeah I hung clothes out to dry, yeah I did my cooking on a gas cooktop and in the microwave... But I had all I needed awaiting power to come back... The fact is I had what was needed... At the altitude my house is at A/C is unnecessary, So I don't have it. My purpose was to give perspective from my experience. Many years ago Hurricane Hugo shutdown South Carolina. I lived in Charleston then. For some 8-10 weeks we lived off a generator... and yeah, it was a 4 kW unit. You don't run all these things at the same time. As I've anlyzed the loading in my house, that 7.2 kW unit in my truck will do everything I need, including the dryer, hotwater heater, and oven.

 

[Nick Gerteis]

How many hours can the Lightning actually power a house?

Depends on what is being used in the house. Standard range Lightning is said to have a 98 kWh battery, Extended range 133 kWh. My average house usage is 30 kWh per day, so 3-4 days on the Lightning. You can check your light bill to see your average usage, and how long it would power your home.

 

[Gros Ventre]

Their advertising says 2-3 days... depending on load... See my entry on loading.

 

[Gros Ventre]

...And don't forget, you don't have leave it connected or on 24/7... you can turn it off at night. When that wildfire blew thru my community, I ran the 4kW (really 3 kW at the altitude of my home) generator 2 hours in the morning... coffee etc, 1 hour around noon, and 3 hours in the evening. I did this to conserve gasoline since I could not leave my property to get more. In the end I had plenty of gasoline, but the rationing helped.

 

[UGADawg96]

We'd either need to get two Lightning trucks, get a couple rolling porta cools, or sweat our nancy's off. It's damn hot here year round. I checked our consumption and we use about 50 kWh per day over six mos a year and close to 30 kWh the rest. We get less than 30 days below 60 degrees. We're one of the few folks that plan to leave FL when we retire. hah! ?

 

[Ajzride]

7.2kW is sufficient for “most” homes. My 3600sqf house draws 6.7kw with every light, fan, tv, fridge, and the downstairs AC on. I don’t normally have every light, fan, and TV on at once, I was just load testing my generator. I have a meter on the incoming line from the generator.

 

[jameslandry]

Do you frequently experience sudden electricity loss in your place? Do you want to know how to connect generator to house without transfer switch? To make it clean and more accessible, I highly suggest installing a generator plug for house, which you will learn in this article.

 

[MattM]

Which transfer switch are you using? I think the Generac 6852 will let you hook up the truck and if the power goes out you can go into your garage and flip a switch and you're up and running. The truck can run in generator mode almost indefinitely as long as you have the fuel. This person ran it for 72 hours on 1/4 tank, but he must have the smaller KW model. The 7.2 will run for 36 hours under full load according to Ford, so with less draw it will run longer.

Definitely no reason to go outside when stop signs and 2x4s are flying sideways.

"I am doing the same thing in texas. My power boost is running fridge lights cable modem router tv dtv receiver my power recliner coffee pot. It has been running constantly for 72 hours. It has used 1/4 tank of gas. Also am using extension cords as I haven’t wired my house yet. The Ford pass works great. This truck is amazing."

Rod - how are your Generac 6852 ground wires terminated? I have the same unit and the Powerboost keeps tripping ground fault. A Generac rep told me I need a separate ground rod for the transfer switch to make it work. Any info woukd be appreciated.

 

[MattM]

Nationwide Generators shows they have the Generac 6852 in stock. This is what I put in and it works great.

Could you take a picture of the inside of you transfer switch? I'm interested particularly in the ground Green) and Neutral (White) terminals on the right side.

 

[Gulfstream]

Sorry about not replying, I missed your post.

I never found out what caused the ground fault when using tandem breakers. I'm not electrically savvy, but I don't think my electrician was very sharp.

In the other thread "Installed Transfer Switch In House" Jessaf00 said about a problem he had with the Generac:
"Looks like this MAY be related to a common install mistake with the 6852 where an electrician runs all the neutral lines from the 6852 to the bus bar on the sub panel. Those neutrals need to be tied to the neutrals going to your outlets/lights/devices in order to fully separate from the main power. Electrician is coming back tomorrow to rework." And "KEY POINT is that the neutrals NEED to be moved to the Generac 6852 for the full isolation from the house." So maybe that could have some bearing, I don't know.

Knowledgeable posters on here hate this idea, but if I was starting over I'd use an ungrounded extension cord and an interlock. I have yet to read even one firsthand account of someone getting hurt with that setup.

I know this is an old(ish) thread but I've been reading everything I can about powering my home with the PowerBoost and, unfortunately, I have come to understand that the only safe way will be the expensive addition of a 3 phase transfer switch. But. . . your post reminded of something I read on another thread about unexplained ground faults after a successful install of the Generac 6852 and then the subsequent addition of tandem breakers. According to what I remember, and I could be wrong, the poster said they finally realized they had installed arc fault breakers instead of gfci breakers. Don't know if that will be helpful or not but thought I'd let you know.

 

[UGADawg96]

I know this is an old(ish) thread but I've been reading everything I can about powering my home with the PowerBoost and, unfortunately, I have come to understand that the only safe way will be the expensive addition of a 3 phase transfer switch. But. . . your post reminded of something I read on another thread about unexplained ground faults after a successful install of the Generac 6852 and then the subsequent addition of tandem breakers. According to what I remember, and I could be wrong, the poster said they finally realized they had installed arc fault breakers instead of gfci breakers. Don't know if that will be helpful or not but thought I'd let you know.

It is not a "3 phase transfer switch", it is a "transfer switch compatible with bonded neutral generators"

No issues here with the 6852 model. And yes, cool rod was correct, you have to move the neutrals from the main box over to the transfer switch per the instructions.

https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/installed-transfer-switch-in-house.1267/page-20#post-181830

 

[Yves]

I know this is an old(ish) thread but I've been reading everything I can about powering my home with the PowerBoost and, unfortunately, I have come to understand that the only safe way will be the expensive addition of a 3 phase transfer switch. But. . . your post reminded of something I read on another thread about unexplained ground faults after a successful install of the Generac 6852 and then the subsequent addition of tandem breakers. According to what I remember, and I could be wrong, the poster said they finally realized they had installed arc fault breakers instead of gfci breakers. Don't know if that will be helpful or not but thought I'd let you know.

You probably meant 3 poles (triple breaker) transfer switch, where you break the black, red and white.

 

[Gulfstream]

You probably meant 3 poles (triple breaker) transfer switch, where you break the black, red and white.

Yes, Yves, I think you are correct. This shows the level of my electrical prowess!!

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