Honda EU2000i Generator - powering the house.

[RSBSTEADICAM]

Not to add to all those who are telling you how dangerous and illegal (7 years prison time in some states) it is by back feeding your house (and it is) but you might want to have a fire extinguisher close by (try attaching one to the generator) so that regardless of the reason from refueling to your generator blowing up you will be ready for that too!.

[Mrwilson0506]

it looks like you just have a standard outlet that is outside and a plug going into it. :L mmmm if someone touched them terminals on that cable from your generator they could get a nasty shock

[MrRossi18020]

It definitely works. In the recent snow storm I did exactly that and everything worked. Honda eu2000i companion. Everyone that tries this... MAKE SURE YOU TURN OFF THE MAIN BREAKER FIRST!!! You could kill a lineman.

[metro2002]

Wow that thing is noisy. If there was a SHTF situation they will know where you are in a second.

[ryanb788]

Sounds like you know a little bit about electrical being that you did shut off the main breaker. I would recommend for anyone doing this to always turn off the main breaker and as an added precaution put a lock on the panel itself to prevent anyone from turning the breaker back on by mistake. 

[cndlpwr]

There is nothing wrong with backfeeding through an outlet as long as the main breaker is off. Yes with a larger genset supplying the same 120v to two legs with a common neutral, there is a CHANCE of overloading the neut. Of course I'm an electrician and I know what the hell I'm doing, which separates me from most of the 'experts' who comment here.

[Dave49399]

Your house will really warm when the power returns and your honda gets fried.

[Dave49399]

It will be warm in your house when the power is restored and you honda gets fried and caches on fire.

[H8uGovDave]

In a SHTF situation ill back-feed anything i want.

[Kylern389]

@mdlatour13

if the power comes back on. he can cause the whole neighborhood to not have power.

that's why he should not do it. it should go in to the fuse box.

[aguanteyzma05]

NEVER backfeed the generator to an outlet. this can damage your appliances

[woww1993]

how big is the circuit the generators hooked to

[Kspitzn78]

B S

[cjbermudez]

This is a NATIONAL ELECTRICAL CODE (NEC) VIOLATION!!!! Thats really unsafe!!!

[MeEncantaKiley]

Thats really unsafe

[mikesamc]

oops nevermind i see it now

[mikesamc]

whats the generator size?

[gchenley]

Also be sure the double ended plug is wired so that the hot side is really on the hot side of the house and not the neutral or there could be problems of power going out on the neutral to the power grid.

[gchenley]

I have a transfer switch installed and the neutral remains connected to the utility, which is what you want it to do. Just be sure to open the main breaker to your house for lineman safety and also so you you won't have nasty things happen when power is restored. I'm not sure how you are powering both sides of the phase though. It can be done but it was not explained. Thanks for the Video

[bigdnelyria]

i bet the morron still connected to the main.

[breadhead992000]

Mr Sparks is right!! The circuit breaker panel only disconnects the hot.

If you dont disconnect, the neutral is still energized. You're going to light up the guy in the bucket getting the limb off your wire.

You already spent $1000 on the generator. Now spend $200 more and get a power transfer switch and do it correctly.

[shahabyasin65]

How long till you need to refill the generator?

[flyrock45]

FAKE!!!!!!! how can you run all that on a camping genset???

[ding0925]

@flyrock45 He cant,, i have one and barely runs just a couple small things much less all the stuff he had on...

[MrSparks134]

how about the nuetral wire going back to the transformer? its still getting back feed, and can kill a linesman!! you still need to discounect the nuetral!!!

[andyb521740]

The neutral flows back to the generator windings not to the utility transformer. Which is why you don't see 3 pole residential transfer switches. Only the hots need to be switched.

[Philscbx]

For emergency, Go ahead and back feed, and do pull the mains.

A cord of at least 10 ga. Then the generator can be placed further away for exhaust & noise.

Use bulk underground cable, & install ends, or 4 plex.

The larger the gauge, the less the generator has to do to make up the difference.

Start the fridge first with everything else off. He needs extra for starting load. Then add lights.

If you want the microwave in use, wait till the fridge is satisfied & shuts off, keeping the door shut.

[Philscbx]

I just picked up my new EU2000i today.

Mainly to use for camping, and keep you Tube freaks updated on the computer, and best of all, a huge 3 inch think pot roast in the crock-pot.

After the races, head back to camp site, flip on the flood lights, grill up some chicken and baked potatoes, and crack a few suds. Keep the crock pot rapped in heavy insulated rap for 5 hrs. Then chow down like kings.

If it rains, screw it, flip down the door, roll out the 4 wheelers, and head to the bar.

[caswell9370]

caswell989 while its not a good idea to back feed your house it would be possible to run all that stuff if he was using flourescent light bulbs they only consume 9 to 14 watts depending on light output (40 to 100 watts)equivelent.

[jimmy21122]

shut the hellup grandpa fucking pussy, if the main is off no power can get out

[ConscienceCollab]

If you watched the video, he was showing that he was running these items off of a HONDA EU2000i: (a) kitchen lights (b) bathroom lights (c) garage lights (d) Christmas tree lights (e) living room lights (f) laptop (g) hall lights (h) furnace - (Actually a gas furnace) (i) ceiling fan (j) 2nd bathroom light That Maximum Output on that Honda is rated at: 120 volts, 2000 watts. There's no way he could run all of those items simultaneously; not with any 2000 watt generator.

[SirFrag32]

And that cord he is using is pretty thin too. Also! Backfeeding without a transfer switch is a HUGE no-no!

[mpwelk]

I wouldn't say it's not true - everything is a light of some kind except for the laptop (80w), ceiling fan (maybe 150 watts), and furnace (gas furnace - perhaps 500 watts on full fan speed). That leaves plenty of room for a bunch of lights, especially if they're CF or LED.

[GrandpaTD]

that generator looks too small to power the house

PEOPLE WORKING ON THE POWER LINES COULD GET KILLED FROM THAT METHEOD OF HOOKING IT UP!!

[DontTread0nMe1776]

While I agree it is not the best idea to hook it up like that, as long as he turned off the main breaker to the house there would be no danger of electrocuting power line workers.

[plutonium233]

+1. Its not the best idea, but it can be done. Best to pull the meter if possible. Also, electricians are supposed to lockout, tagout, test with a tick tracer, then put GROUNDS on whatever they are servicing. Neutrals are bonded to ground, can't backfeed there.

[SonySasuke]

Are u sure thats not electricity from the regular power line lol

[leedwolf]

how do you power your house throu the outlet ?

[andyb521740]

Thru a very dangerous extension cord. This is not the proper way to power a home off a generator

[drvonhoss]

oh..btw.. I plan on doing the almost same install on my house. I plan on making a harness that would allow me to plug into 2 plugs that are on opposite phases.

If the power goes out.. I will turn off the main and all 220 (2 pole) breakers. Then plug my harness in that I will have leading to the basement. Fire it up and I will be on my way.

[jrl1611]

@drvonhoss Here is an easy way to power up the entire house (both phases) when backfeeding. With the power off, unplug your dryer plug, wrap some suitable wire around the two hot blades, then plug it back in. Now you've jumped the power from one leg to the other. DO NOT forget to remove this jumper before switching back to grid power. Yes, for all of you nay-sayers, we all know that backfeeding is a no-no, but this is for emergency use only.

[drvonhoss]

Wow.. most of you guys don't know too much about electricity.

First off.. the linemen ground the lines prior to working on them. Therefore.. you will trip the breaker on a honda if you back-fed the line.

As for running another EU2000i for the other phase.. that would never work. Even though a house is concidered single phase power it is actually 2 phases. The two generators would not produce the proper sinewave to run 220 lines.

Im not running spell check cuz I dont care.

[mysteriousjustin]

Your the biggest dumbass in history, this guy had the mains at his breaker off.

[baclarsen]

Before you start calling others dumbass , take a look in the mirror.

The point of plugging into both phases is not to run 220 outlets. It is to make sure all light and outlets work in the entire house.

You see half the house lights and outlets are on one phase and the other half is on the second phase.........DUMBASS

[niskam13]

where can i get a cord like that????

[elliottveares]

how could that small generator powere all that and the whole house,the whole house load would be at least 20-50kw

[elliottveares]

i mean 20-50 Amps not kilo wats.

[broadcasteng]

great clip, what comfort in showing us into your home.

quite comical when people wonder if home is on grid. these people are dangerous.

[stojanmumovic]

generator will never work if the house is connected to the grid.

[gamer2284]

So you have the output going directly into the house outlet? which means you have eletricity, but whats happenes when the power ocmes back on? big problem lol, please respond.

[Kolon999]

It wasn't clear whether the house has been disconnected from the grid.

I'm gusssing it is.

[Kolon999]

But in the spirit of "Kids: don't try this at home"..... It should be observed that if the house is still connected to the grid, you can kill somebody who is working to restore power by doing that.

[Kolon999]

Those 120 volts get fed back into the power system to the nearest, say, 30,000 volt transformer and get stepped up to the other side of that transformer - to kill or maim the lineman who makes a small mistake.

[Kolon999]

Yes: they're supposed to treat every wire as if it were hot. No: nobody can be 100% perfect - especially when they've been up for 24+ hours working the storm.

[w105bks]

Actually there was not a power outage during this video. I shut off the mains to test the Honda's performance running the essentials in the house. The Honda passed with flying colors and I am sizing up transfer switches as we speak.

[Kolon999]

I figured as much.  Just couldn't let it pass as an ex-electric company employee....

If I had it to do over, I'd have had the transfer switch installed before I bought the gennie.

My bad.

Wasted almost a hundred bucks on cords as it is... and now it's pretty obvious to me that I don't want tb unrolling/plugging cords in the middle of the night with freezing rain coming down....

[wilatemodel]

@w105bks could we have a update plz??

[kb8zxe]

The outside outlet doesn't look like a GFCI, if it was, I wonder if back feeding would mess it up? I'm assuming that the outside circuit is rated at 20 amps, just curious what a furnace, fridge, tv, lights and fan consume?

[dx9s]

FWIW: *backfeeding* is a poor alternative to a transfer panel. You need to be knowledgeable (even certified folks make mistakes) to do this work.

I will NOT suggest this to anybody. It is dangerous and possibly lethal. Issues with floating or bonded to ground neutrals, knowledge of phases, power factors a few things to consider

In place of a transfer box, I've been thinking of isolated power line (in a house) w/ switches to cut over each appliance one at a time.

[dx9s]

Yeah strange (for you) having most of the lights on the same phase there... What does that leave on the other side.. The fridge, microwave and those "240v" appliances (stove, electric? water heater, etc??) I assuming you switched off all 240v breakers as well to protect against current leaking through those to opposite phase... Or did you turn off most breakers to begin with (turning on what you wanted)?

--Doug

[dx9s]

yeah... Just really love how quiet it is. I mean I had some video some place of it running and the cars at some distance (~125feet) away was louder that the generator at 8 feet.

(continued above...)

[w105bks]

Luckily, most of our lights in the house are on the same phase as the furnace. Our fridge is not, so I simply unplug it and use an extension cord to reach a nearby outlet on the same phase as the furnace. I could move the breaker, but I want to keep normal usage somewhat balanced between the two phases. Our furnace uses 7 amps peak during startup, then settles down to about 3 amps running. I would worry about the common neutral and would not hook up a second EU on the second phase if I had one.

[dx9s]

I have an EU2000i also (and love it's size and use). I understand electricity so I suspect you have to backfeed the correct phase to get the gas furnace -- what about the fridge? Do you think (if/when) you got a 2nd EU2000i would you link them on the same phase or use it to power the other phase (understand common returns now have possibility for over current).

How much do you think the fan uses? Typical 3/4 HP motor right?

--Doug