Ice and generator question

The power is off, lines down to the shop and to other buildings, not to the house. I would like to hookup the generator to power the well and lights in the house. How do I check the lines so as they do not spark and set the buildings on fire. I cant be sure or can I. The house looks like it is isolated but it is still connected to the other lines that are down. It is a 20K generator and Im afraid to hook it up. I never thought about this before. Ice everywhere.

If you can get ahold of the ends use a lot of electrical tape on the ends if you have some then fold those wires out of the way and water if you can. If you don't have tape having them folded up so nothing can get into them, yourself included, will get you by. Although sometimes on the meter pole there may be a breaker panel to shut each building off independantly but that is not very common around here.Any Livestock to worry about? BE SAFE but i'm sure you know that

Are they all on one meter? If the house is on a separate meter, pull the lever on that box and you should have the house isolated.

If there all on the same meter, are there separate circuit breakers for the lines that are down? You should be able to flip those to break contact with the house.

Beyond that, I'm not sure.

If you don't know the answer to those questions I say DO NOT hook it to any system.
There are many experts on here who may be able to instruct you on running one item safely,(like the pump, etc.)
They will probably show up soon.

Sounds like you have not had an electrician install an isolation switch, so you don't power up the lines that the linemen will be touching to hook you up. You will need to run drop cords to everything you need to power up, and hot wire each fixture. This is VERY important so you don't kill a lineman working to help you! You can also, then, plug in lights, TV, radio, etc. If you don't know how, you will need to call an electrician to safely do this. Greg

On the farm all lines are connected to one meter.
Each building has a fuse box but that has nothing to do with the lines outside. I can throw all the fuse boxes and that does nothing to the lines down outside the building. I have to hook to the meter pole that has the electric company throw swith, which cost me $600. to install for safety reasons which I wanted, but now I dont know whether I should fire up the generator with so many lines down to the buildings. No I dont know the answers Bob or I would not have come on here to get some direction on what to do. I thought I was all set for a generator and now I run in to this.
Guess Ill climb the meter pole cut all wires to the other buildins and leave the house and do it.

I don't mean to be snide, snotty or anything like that. I just don't think this is the way or the time to learn.
I think someone should be there who can help. I know what to do here. I just am not confident anyone could direct you with words. I know I can't.
Please be careful.

Bob, the wife is getting cold, thirsty, hungry,and nasty,and you say this is no time to ask questions. You mean I should have ask the questions when it was 75 degrees out, right. You mean you I should just not ask. You win. You ask a question about your sleeve that will not come out 3 months in advance right. Or if you have any question ask 1 month in advance, you got to be kiddin. smile

First let me state i am NOT an electrican. i have done renos for 20 year an done a fair amount of electrical work. if you shut off the main breaker in your pannel you have isolated your house from the rest of the farm. you can then run extension cords to what you want to run and not worry about power going to other buildings. if it was me i would remove the wires that power up your breaker box and wire your genorator in there.but if your not sure or not comfortable with this DONT DO IT. Im asuming these lines down around your farm are dead now. Make sure before you go cutting any.

Gregk, what do you mean with "fold those wires out of the way and water if you can" You been tipping?

As far as a backup generator, you should plan ahead if you want it to run your whole house or farm in case of a power failure. It's like leaving your life jacket on shore after you're about to tip over in the middle of the lake. If you run good extension cords to what ever you need and disconnect them from the house circuit, you should be OK. If you try to hook into the whole electrical system without a proper transfer switch, you could burn everything down. Just ask Buickanddeere or John T. They do know about electrical do's and dont's. Dave

Cut the seal and pull the meter.

open the main or turn off the main breaker in the houses breaker box this will keep all juice in the home and not harm anything especially linemen

With the buildings and house being hooked up to a single meter, it means that if you tie in to the house panel box with the generator, you could feed the downed lines to the other buildings...and have possible tragic consequences. Also if you do not disconnect at the meter, when the power is restored, the power crew will probably not know your building's lines are down, and thus they could feed your broken lines and cause disaster. So if it was mine to do, I would pull the master switch (or breaker) at the meter pole, or if there does not seem to be a master switch, then break the seal on the meter and pull it out. It should have 4 large prongs on the back of the glass meter. Some meters pull straight out and some need just a bit of a twist then a pull. With the meter out, when the power company restores power to the main line, your house and buildings will be isolated until you can get an electrician to safely restore your on-site lines.

If you have telephone or cell service, I'd call your power company and find out their recommendations.

Unless you have the proper generator switch wired into your system, I'd only use the generator with extension cords going to whatever appliances you need to power. Do not feed into the house wiring through a dryer, welder, or electric stove cord. This may still backfeed into your downed building lines. Most likely your well pump will need 220 volts to make it run. Maybe you already have a heavy duty 220 extension cord with your arc welder that you could use to feed the well. If so, pull the well's double breaker out of the breaker box and feed it with carefully taped wires from the 220 cord.

As you will probably be powering the generator with a tractor PTO (or maybe its own 25 Hp engine) somewhat near the house, be careful about the wind direction and the engine exhaust. You or family can be just as dead from carbon monoxide poisoning. I surely would not let it run while the family is sleeping!

Best of luck in this trying time.

Paul in MN

One time when the power went down I feed a PTO driven 35 kw back through the 220 v outlet from my oven but I had the main switch on the pole in the off position and I could power my house. I would of hooked it up to the pole and powered my whole farm but the barn burning down was the reason I could not. hope this helps

Usually but.............For example the underground supply to my shed is a 70 two pole breaker from my house panel.
Opening the main does not isolate the shed.

This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. Seeing some really wild wiring jobs done by desperate people, with limited skills/knowledge in a hurry during lousy conditions.
If there ever was a recipe for damage, fire,death,shocks etc. That pretty covers all the ingredients.
These over head lines that are down? Are they pulled off the power meter pole or at the shed or barn ends?
Are the leads partly pulled off the house leads to leave an open line or neutral?
Some power metering does not run the full voltage and current down to the meter. Just a couple of scrawny cables from a Current transformers and a potential transformer. Pull the meter base and the place is still connected back to the grid.
I suppose a wild*ss backfeed through the stove plug with the house main breaker open. Maybe better than frozen pipes but..........I can't see your situation from here.
When things settle down. Here is what your electrical service requires. Not to scold but....Why do people purchase generators but have no way to connect to the electrical service?
I don't know how many times I've drove through town when the power is out. To see 6500W generators humming along. With one scrawny 16gauge 120V cable running in through the house window.

http://www.reliancecontrols.com/ProductDetail.aspx?TWB2012DR

true enough!and that is quite commen for some additional building to to powered from the house pannel. in your case you say by under ground line which should still be safe as long as power dosnt carry on from there by an over head line that is down, this could still be isolated by turning off that breaker.

Oftentimes, there are more than one MAIN. Better look for all the MAINS. If you don't have tester and know what you are looking for, get HELP. Have carried dead men out of these situations.

B&D,I knew you'd be along and I agree with you. When you buy a generator is the time to get it set up properly, not when it's 20 below and the power goes out. It's a lot different than having an unexpected breakdown on a tractor. Strangely enough, having the water pipes freeze is probably better than burning the place down but at least you'd have some heat if you had a big fire. LoL Dave

I agree with Bob and Barn E. He was not trying to be nasty, just giving you good advice. Get someone locally to help you. It does not sound like you are familiar enough with electricity hookups to analyze the situation, explain it in words on this forum, have "someone" accurately tell you what steps to do and then follow those steps. Many on this forum would be able to "look" at the situation and figure it out in a few minutes but we're all kind of wearing blinders. I do electrical work on an old farm that has been "touched" by many people over the years. It never ceases to amaze me what I find and I could not explain succintly on this forum.

Not to pick on you. But I have been working on backup power systems for forty years. At this time you would be better off using cords to run what you need.To remove the house from the line power you need to pull the meter.If you are not sure how to hook it up. Find someone who is. To many things to go wrong. When the weather gets better.Have an adapter plug installed on your house. They make a system where with just moving a handle. You can hook up your genset to the house. Without any danger. Then when you know power is back.You can switch back to line power