1800 Diesel
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- Santa Rosa County, FL
Looking into a setup at my brother's house on the gulf coast where we could install one generator to power two houses. Both houses are 100% natural gas for stove, HW heater & clothes dryer. As for electrical loads, both have central AC & the larger of the homes has multiple window units on the 2nd story. After Katrina we wired to the larger home with an MEP-003A for over two weeks and it ran at less than 75% load (though the central AC unit was not in service since it had been flooded with sea water).
The above details are provided for general information reasons. I would like the focus of this thread to be on the concept of simultaneously "driving" two houses with the same generator and any issues/concerns of electrically connecting both load cables from each house to the output terminals on the generator.
My first-look at the setup: 1. Both houses would have a transfer switch installed to isolate from the grid. 2. The load cables for each house would be connected together at L0, L1 & L3 output terminals. 3. At the loss of grid power, heavy load breakers in each house would be shut off & one transfer switch at a time would be turned on & then loads would be added as circuits were needed. 4. The generator will be re-wired for single-phase output, hopefully passing an 18 KW load test. 5. No ABT/PLC setup will be installed; this will be a manual operation following suitable training of the homeowners. 6. Generator load would be monitored closely during initial light-off to confirm suitability of the generator capacity, though I believe the MEP4 will handle the task with ease.
In my electrically-limited brain, it would seem that the two different loads combined at the output terminals would not cause any problems, but I would like some feedback from those with more knowledge & experience than me. I still need to sort out the concept of the proper arrangement for handling the generator earth ground & the neutral line L0. I believe there is already much discussion on the relationship between the neutral & the earth ground--this subject I need to get smarter on.
So, if anyone has any concerns/comments, additional safety recommendations, etc, please weigh in. If this it totally dumb for reasons I don't know, please educate me--I will not be offended....
Thanks,
Kevin
The above details are provided for general information reasons. I would like the focus of this thread to be on the concept of simultaneously "driving" two houses with the same generator and any issues/concerns of electrically connecting both load cables from each house to the output terminals on the generator.
My first-look at the setup: 1. Both houses would have a transfer switch installed to isolate from the grid. 2. The load cables for each house would be connected together at L0, L1 & L3 output terminals. 3. At the loss of grid power, heavy load breakers in each house would be shut off & one transfer switch at a time would be turned on & then loads would be added as circuits were needed. 4. The generator will be re-wired for single-phase output, hopefully passing an 18 KW load test. 5. No ABT/PLC setup will be installed; this will be a manual operation following suitable training of the homeowners. 6. Generator load would be monitored closely during initial light-off to confirm suitability of the generator capacity, though I believe the MEP4 will handle the task with ease.
In my electrically-limited brain, it would seem that the two different loads combined at the output terminals would not cause any problems, but I would like some feedback from those with more knowledge & experience than me. I still need to sort out the concept of the proper arrangement for handling the generator earth ground & the neutral line L0. I believe there is already much discussion on the relationship between the neutral & the earth ground--this subject I need to get smarter on.
So, if anyone has any concerns/comments, additional safety recommendations, etc, please weigh in. If this it totally dumb for reasons I don't know, please educate me--I will not be offended....
Thanks,
Kevin