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Generator problem

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aflatoon1989

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greetings,
well my problem is weird.so i thought may be someone know the reason behind it...i have installed 20kva stand by generator for my house its a 3 phase generator....my house load is not very much.i distributed my house load in 3 parts ,mostly it shows 3A,2A,3A in generators ampere meter for 3 phases .....then my neighbor relative ask me to lend him a connection whenever there is a load shedding... so i make an extension of wire rated for 450/750 volt...and plugged it in garage room,then the load was increased only on 1 phase of generator the reading becomes 6A,2A,3A...it runs fine for a week then the plug got burned of extension i made.....well then i link my neighbor house with another extension rated for 230/250 volt ....it runs fine,but then weird thing happens whenever the supply shifts on normal line voltage .i.e our electric supply corporation....and generator goes off...the circuit breaker of only the garage portion got trip (i.e.off)....this thing was not happened with old extension.the load is still same.
i dont know whts the prob is it due to the extension wire rating or what..whats the solution?
 
aflatoon1989,

Where do you live? Seriously - where do you live?

On the moon? Must be……..

I sure hope it's not in the state of FL, otherwise I have some real concerns about how people there are "jury-rigging" their houses with backup generators and such. Same too goes with living OFF THE GRID "jury-rigging" as it were!

As a neighbor living next to you (thankfully not btw) - I'd be scared to death of my house going up in SMOKE - as from a careless FIRE that you created there!

I could probably list about 2 dozen things that are so OBVIOUS that even Jay Leno wouldn't JOKE about them on his show - less he wants to be booed by his audience.

First of all - Your problem isn't just WEIRD - it's just plain STUPID what you are doing there!

Come on guy!

Are you looking to BURN DOWN your garage there (and then your house next) at the hands of your CHEAP NEIGHBOR (or relative if I'm reading your post right)?!

I guess my biggest ?'s of most concern are -

How far is your neighbor's house from where you Mickey Mouse plugged in this so-called made up "extension of wire" into your "garage room"?

What kind of wire did you use? ie: stranded copper wire extension cord type?; UL approved Electrician's type separate solid copper wire type?; UL approved below ground copper wire cable? What?

Where did you plug this "extension of wire" into at your neighbor's house?

Are you on compatible 50 or 60 Hz line Freq, as related to your generator there?

I won't even ask if you used a UL approved Transfer Switch of proper rating!
 
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You stated the rated KVA of the generator but not it's output voltage. You stated the voltage for the extension cables you used, but not the current rating. What are you using for a transfer switch? You can't just plug the generator directly into an outlet of a serviced house and expect it to work, when the power company's supply comes back and the voltage between the generator and the supply are out of phase you'll get incredibly currents through the wiring. If you're just plugging this in directly you need to stop immediately and get an appropriate transfer switch before you burn down both of your houses.

Although possible not the problem 3 phase generators generally need to have a balanced load, meaning the current needs to be pretty much the same in all branches. You probably should have bought a single phase generator. Also you've so far listed 4 voltages for the extension cord you use, what is your mains/generator voltage.
 
To do the job properly you need to install a proper changeover contactor at your switchboard.
It only allowes the mains to "drive" the house, or the generator, not both at the same time.

What you do here as I understand from your post is just plain dangerous and you are at risk of electrocuting someone or burning down the place.

It looks that circulating currents are causing the problems or simply the fact that your neigbour is on a different phase than your house and that the generator is not in synch and hence the plug burn out.

Stop what you are doing and get a licensed electrician to sort it out for you before you kill someone.
 
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