VanLUG Email Archive
David & Masako Bellwood (blwd@home.com)
Wed, 05 May 1999 19:52:50 -0700
I was working at BC Electric (predecessor of BC Hydro, in case anyone
doesn't remember!) in 1961, when a colossal January storm blew down
lines across the North Shore. Some subdivisions didn't get power back
for 3 weeks. A friend of mine in the power distribution department had a
bus generator installed in his car to run a radio transmitter (them was
the days). His was the only family in his subdivision able to live at
home, because he did just what is described here - threw the main switch
and plugged his car generator in, and so could keep the house furnace
and a couple of light bulbs burning. Everyone else lived in motels.
My wife and I were living in a West End apartment at the time - on the
night of the storm the whole sky was lit up by the 10Kv distribution
lines shorting - a few 60Kv transmission lines arced too. Free
fireworks! So maybe it's "Don't do as I do...." etc !
David Bellwood
Toomas Losin wrote:
>
> Andrew Daviel writes:
>
> > On Tue, 4 May 1999, jerome schatten wrote:
> >
> > > Throw the main breaker off; plug the
> > > generator into the 220 dryer outlet; put in some gas and pull the
> > > string!
> >
> > BC Hydro have strict prohibitions against this kind of thing - you're
> > supposed to get a proper transfer switch. Can't see why myself, if the
> > breaker's safe enough to protect people working in the house, why it isn't
> > safe enough to protect the guys outside.
>
> Because the hydro guys aren't expecting someone's house to source
> current. If the main breaker is outside they may not have any
> suspicion that the house wiring is hot. Smart guys'll check anyway
> because people tend to do silly things. :-)
>
> > Anyhow, if the breaker fails
> > either you end up running the line transformer backwards and put 3kV or
> > whatever back on the line, or when the Hydro crews ground the cable to
> > work on it your generator screams to a halt.
>
> If the breaker fails closed and the generator is 180 degrees out of
> phase with the grid you could get an interesting fire.
>
> --
> Toomas Losin ParaLynx Internet
> tlo@paralynx.com New Westminster, BC
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