Cooperative Living November/December 2016 - 12

Currents | by Tom Tate, Contributing Writer
Generators: Friend and Foe
Generators used properly are definitely your friend in times of need.
W
hen the lights go out for an
extended period, having a
backup generator is very
comforting. With electricity available for at
least a portion of your needs, life can be
close to normal. Generators used properly
are definitely your friend in times of need.
When generators are used incorrectly,
they immediately become a foe. They
create dangerous situations for you, your
neighbors and co-op line crews ...
situations that can be deadly.
The most common reason generators
take on a deadly bent is that they are
connected to the user's home incorrectly.
Even though all generator-user manuals
clearly instruct users not to do this, a lot of
folks simply plug the generator into an
outlet in the home, either a regular wall
outlet or the heavier dryer outlet. This is
an absolute mistake. For one thing, the
entire output of the generator is pushed
into a circuit whose wiring and protective
devices were never sized to handle that
kind of load. Overheating and fires are
real possibilities.
But the danger doesn't end at the risk to
the home. Generators will back-feed
electricity into the power lines. Even
throwing the main breaker is not a
guarantee that the power won't make its
way into the co-op system. Breakers are
mechanical devices. Over time, they can
degrade and stick. A faulty breaker can
appear to be open and actually still be
closed. I have experienced this.
When electricity is back-fed into the
power lines, the first device this electricity
encounters is a transformer. These devices
are two-directional. They take high-voltage
electricity from your cooperative and
reduce it to the voltage your home uses,
240 and 120 volts. When the power
comes from your house, the transformer
dramatically increases the voltage and
sends it further up the line.
The result? Wires that workers or even
neighbors thought were dead are now fully
energized and have their full lethal
potential. Just walking near an energized
line on the ground can be fatal to people
and pets. Co-op crews realize that
generators will be used during a major
outage. When they arrive to work on
restoration, they can usually hear them
running. When they hear them, they
employ their training for working on
live wires.
But manufacturers have responded to
noise complaints by developing muchquieter
generators, so quiet that now the
crews might not hear them. In a case I am
familiar with, a tree ripped down a wire,
creating an outage. It was a nice, quiet
Sunday. As the line crew worked to
rebuild the line, one of the crew brushed
The most common
reason generators take
on a deadly bent is
that they are
connected to the
user's home
incorrectly.
10 | Cooperative Living | November-December 2016
a transformer connection. Electricity
flashed through his hand and exited
through his bicep. The owner of the home
had a whisper-model generator, had
connected it incorrectly, and put power
back into what should have been dead
wires. The crew could not hear the
generator and a casual brush injured one
of them. He was fortunate as it could have
just as easily been fatal.
There are only a few ways to connect
your generator properly. One, use
extension cords (nice, heavy ones rated
for a sizeable load) to power appliances.
Two, have a qualified electrician install
a disconnect switch and panel wired for
the circuits that you want to power in
an outage. The generator plugs into the
panel. A third option would be to buy
a whole-house generator with an
automatic disconnect, which also needs
to be installed by a qualified electrician.
Generators are a boon when Mother
Nature puts the lights out for long
periods. Connected properly, that
luxury won't turn deadly. Be sure you
can connect your generator the right, the
safe, way. 
Tom Tate writes on cooperative issues for the
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association,
the Arlington, Virginia-based service arm of the
nation's 900-plus consumer-owned, not-for-profit
electric cooperatives.
www.co-opliving.com
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living November/December 2016

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