[glinka]

Trying to buy HUD house. They are a pain. They allowed an inspection of the electrical by us but long story short we had to use a generator to test. We tied into a 220 outlet back feeding with the main off. The generator had 30 amp breaker, but it blew when we turned on a 20 amp in the panel box. Nothing else was on. What would cause this the 20 amp in the panel box didn't blow?

 

[ddawg16]

Either you hooked up the generator wrong....of there are major issues with the wiring.

 

[Jim Port]

Does the generator have gfi protection ?

 

[mpoulton]

I had almost the exact same thing happen recently while using a generator to power a new mobile home for testing. Turning on a bathroom exhaust fan (on a 15A circuit) tripped the generator's 30A breaker every time. There was a dead short in the exhaust fan. The generator's breaker trips first despite having a higher rating because it has a different "trip curve" (the relationship between the amount of overload and how long it takes to trip the breaker) better suited to protecting the generator. The generator's breaker trips faster from moderate overloads than the lower-rated breaker in the panel. Even though the 30A breaker is higher rated, it trips faster under these conditions.

 

[glinka]

This "vacation home" being a HUD property had some people who were not happy to leave so cautious about electrical and plumbing. Suppose the best is to get power turned on, after closing, with main off and just go circuit by circuit.

 

[dmxtothemax]

perhaps have an electrician check it out ?

 

[TimPa]

Trying to buy HUD house. They are a pain. They allowed an inspection of the electrical by us but long story short we had to use a generator to test. We tied into a 220 outlet back feeding with the main off. The generator had 30 amp breaker, but it blew when we turned on a 20 amp in the panel box. Nothing else was on. What would cause this the 20 amp in the panel box didn't blow?

did the gen cb trip when you energized the other house cb's? or just that one?

was the 20 amp a single pole or double pole breaker?

what was the 20 labeled for, or do you know what it powered?

if that was the only cb that caused the gen cb to trip, then it could be cb response time as mentioned; the loads that are on that 20 circuit; or a faulty circuit.

 

[glinka]

One of the big problems is Nothing is labeled. We tried different cb's and some lights worked. I think it was both double and single cb's that blew. The power company took the meter out, just the box remains.