3 ms·
How often does this actually happen? I would hope that almost anyone using one of these have the sense to turn off their main breaker.
by NotYourLawyer 4y ago
How often does this actually happen? I would hope that almost anyone using one of these have the sense to turn off their main breaker.
- Dalewyn 4y agoThe kind of people this safety advisory is for don't know what a breaker even is.
- dave78 4y agoIf not enforced mechanically, it's really easy to forget though. The last time I needed to power my house with a generator, it was because the power went out during a horrendous thunderstorm at 3am. We have a sump pit with a battery-powered backup, but when I checked on it right after the power went out I discovered the backup couldn't keep up with the volume of water coming in (it had been raining for hours already, and we ended up getting over 6" of rain that night). I had less than 10 minutes from being awoken at 3am to having to have the generator up and running to prevent our basement from getting flooded. And of course, we had nothing but flashlights and there was a thunderstorm raging outside (where I obviously needed to set up the generator). It would have been way, way too easy to forget one the many critical steps (and critical order of steps) in that scenario to use a suicide cord safely.
- bombcar 4y agoA battery powered transfer pump may be worthwhile as another backup. Had your generator decided not to start you’d be sunk.
- bluGill 4y agoIt doesn't happen very often because odds are you also connected your neighbors and they are drawing enough power to trip one of your breakers. It does happen though, which is why linemen normally short out any wire they think should be dead before working on it. (or they apply working on live wires rules for wires they think are dead)