Home power question

[Rickysa]

Checking in with the brain trust...

Here's the deal...I rebuilt a generator pulled from a refrigerated boxcar, 20kw diesel, 3-phase. I've called all the electrical contractors in town, but nobody wants to set up a connection to the house. I figured I could pull each of the three legs to a separate panel and pull lines from the house to those panels, but no luck on any help.

I do not want to do ANY of it myself, and I want to put all safety gear where it needs to be.

Anybody have a general comment, or know of anybody that might draw up a general diagram I could to present to someone local to get the project started?? This has been going on for over a year, and maybe it might be something nobody wants to be responsible for, but I'm in the dark.

[red-beard]

Most houses are not 3 phase.

My suggestion is buy a proper single-phase generator set. Or pull the generator head off the diesel engine and replace with a 20kW single phase unit.

If you have propane or Natural gas, PM me, as we sell backup generators.

[red-beard]

20KW St Generator Head 1 Phase for Diesel or Gas Engine 60Hz | eBay

[JJ 911SC]

Is this going to be a back-up generator, i.e. you already got power to the house?

Here is some food for thoughts: https://www.google.ca/?client=safari#q=suppling+house+with+3+phase+elect ricity&gfe_rd=cr

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by red-beard

20KW St Generator Head 1 Phase for Diesel or Gas Engine 60Hz | eBay

Pretty good deal, of course the the Switch Over Panel and labour will cost a lot more.

[red-beard]

A 200Amp ATS is around $700.

Depending on location, you need to pull a permit. Someone needs to shut off the power (pull meter), etc. Then someone has to actually cut it in. The cost of the install on a generator can exceed the price of the generator.

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by red-beard

A 200Amp ATS is around $700.

Depending on location, you need to pull a permit. Someone needs to shut off the power (pull meter), etc. Then someone has to actually cut it in. The cost of the install on a generator can exceed the price of the generator.

Yes, up here the rule of thumb is the installation is the same cost of the hardware.

A few years ago I got a Generac 17K Natural Gaz with a 200 Amp ATS from Home Depot (which match Costco sale price) for 3K and the installation was 3K including the electrician picking up the generator. They did not pull the meter, just turn off the 200Amp breaker on the box.

The following week we had a 9 hour power outage so it was a good christening...

[Rickysa]

Or pull the generator head off the diesel engine and replace with a 20kW single phase unit.

Man, I didn't even know that was an option!! That is the way to go, for sure.

We have a propane back up for the occasional few days blackout, but it only covers a small portion of the house. This one I planned to use for big items and the possibility of a long term outage.

House is single phase, and I've got a buried diesel tank from the previous furnace and poured a bunch of effort to get the old two-cycle running. Less than a gallon/hr at full load. Thanks for the feed back folks!!

[John Rogers]

Sounds like a lot of work to me for something that can be done with portable units? I bought two of Harbor Freight 7000 running watts generators a couple years ago and they were 50% off which was nice. One is for upstairs loads lights/frig/ETC and one is downstairs loads freezer/frig/heater/lights/ETC. I run them now and then to make sure they are all okay and so far used them once for about 4 hours. My wife has meds that need to kept refrigerated sooooooo.

Yeah I know, HF and all but in CA that sort of electrical hook up is a nightmare to get done and approved. I run a large extension cord with an industrial power strip off each one, no issues.

[Rickysa]

Sounds like a lot of work to me for something that can be done with portable units?

John, I set this up for an extended power outage, ie. power to run the well, freezers, that kind of stuff. When I installed the Genrac 7kw after 20" of snow in NC, it pretty much guaranteed we'd never need it again .

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by john rogers

Sounds like a lot of work to me for something that can be done with portable units? I bought two of Harbor Freight 7000 running watts generators a couple years ago and they were 50% off which was nice. One is for upstairs loads lights/frig/ETC and one is downstairs loads freezer/frig/heater/lights/ETC. I run them now and then to make sure they are all okay and so far used them once for about 4 hours. My wife has meds that need to kept refrigerated sooooooo.

Yeah I know, HF and all but in CA that sort of electrical hook up is a nightmare to get done and approved. I run a large extension cord with an industrial power strip off each one, no issues.

Quick dirty and works.... I like it.
Maybe the op can adapt his current to something like that?