> The point that several brought up is that doing so is not only a bad idea, > but that it simply won't work
Jay, I’ve had this scenario play out several times: DIYguy: Check out my new generator! It’s big enough to power the whole house! Me: You run extension cords from the generator to all your devices then? DIYguy: No need! I built this special “suicide cord” I read about online in a prepper forum. I just plug that into any wall outlet and it powers the whole house! Me: Um, you haven’t tested this, have you? DIYguy: Sure. I fired up the generator and plugged the dryer into it. Works a treat! Me: No, I mean your special cord. Have you tested that? DIYguy: Hey, if it'll power the dryer, it’ll power my whole house. No need to test! Me: Ok, first of all, that’s not a “suicide cord”. That’s a “homicide cord”. Second, … The problem with this scenario is that the DIYguy never finds out that it won’t work, at least not until the trial. :) -mel > On Aug 30, 2021, at 11:25 AM, Jay Hennigan <j...@west.net> wrote: > > On 8/30/21 10:46, Aaron C. de Bruyn via NANOG wrote: > >> While they were waiting for a few more trucks to arrive with a replacement >> pole, I got to ask them a few questions. They said it's standard practice >> for them to ground on both sides exactly for the reason that someone might >> accidentally connect a generator. They open the nearest switch on the >> upstream side, test to make sure the line is dead, install grounds on all >> the wires, then test the downstream side and attach grounds to all the >> wires, effectively making the work zone an isolated segment. > > I don't think anyone participating in this forum was remotely close to > suggesting that anyone connect a generator to home wiring without a transfer > switch in place. It's stupid and dangerous. > > in the vast majority of power outage scenarios. Unless the outage is on your > service drop or on your pole pig, the impedance of the neighborhood or city > downstream of the outage as reflected through the transformers will vastly > overwhelm any portable generator capable of being connected with a "suicide > cord" by several orders of magnitude. > > The other point is that, assuming that the utility is following their safety > protocols, the utility worker is going to ground the load side as well as the > incoming feed specifically to prevent backfeeding the grid from a miswired > generator. > > Yes, never connect a generator to home wiring without a properly installed > transfer switch. > > Yes, the utility workers should ground the load side to avoid being killed in > the event that someone does so. > > Yes, if the utility follows all procedures correctly, and you happen to > connect your miswired generator at the exact instant that the utility worker > removes the ground after making the connection, and said worker grabs the > conductor with bare hands, and there's a path to ground through the worker's > body at that instant, that worker is probably going to die. The probability > of this happening is somewhat greater than that of winning the lottery, but > if they're on a pole in the middle of a storm working on overhead wires, the > odds of their being struck by lightning are also worth considering. > > It's a warning worth repeating, but probably not to this extent. > >> This is NANOG -- I'm sure that we've all followed a set of steps >> perfectly and still managed to redistribute BGP into the IGP, or >> apply an ACL and lock ourselves out of a box, or types "show run" >> and watched the router randomly reboot. > > Don't forget the classic "switchport trunk allowed vlan" vs. "switchport > trunk allowed vlan add". > > -- > Jay Hennigan - j...@west.net > Network Engineering - CCIE #7880 > 503 897-8550 - WB6RDV
