[Tradesman14]

I recently wired my barn and back fed my panel yesterday using 14-2 with my generator. Hooked my hot into my main breaker and neutral and ground into my bars. My outlets worked at the begining of the day. Now both my north set of outlets dont worked and neither does my south set. what could this be? i no the generator has enough juice.

 

[Yoyizit]

what could this be?

An open circuit upstream of the non-working outlets, or a short circuit downstream of a circuit breaker that has opened because of overcurrent, the breaker being upstream of the non-working outlets.

 

[Tradesman14]

what do you mean by this? this may make me sound like an idiot but does it have anything to do with one an open spot in the panel ( one spot without a breaker in it.

 

[HouseHelper]

Maybe tripped GFCI?

 

[Tradesman14]

nope. tried that. no power to gfi.

 

[woodnthings]

When I back feed a panel

The very first thing I do is shut off the main breaker.:yes:
I then wire up a 220 v double pole breaker and no. 10 wire with a male plug to the generator.
Turn the breaker off.
Plug the 220v plug into the generator.
Turn off every circuit except the ones you will need, maybe 1 or 2
depending on the wattage/amperage output of the genrator.
Fire up the generator.
Turn the 220v wired up breaker on and the whole panel and every circuit is back fed.
Make certain the wire size will support the load!
No 14 wire is only good for 15 amps MAX!
An open circuit is one where the hot is not, or the neutral is not connected for what ever reason. A tripped breaker or one that is shut off will cause this condition. bill
BTW if you back feed with 110 v to only one side of the panel, only the circuits on that side will work. I would NOT do it they way you stated, not safe.

 

[InPhase277]

The solution is to rip out that jackleg junk and wire it up correctly and safely.

 

[Tradesman14]

Ok back feed with 10-2.
if i wire the main breaker with hot and nuetral thatll bring in 240. wont that blow my lights?
How many amps would (4) t8 8 foots lamps be pulling?

 

[InPhase277]

Ok back feed with 10-2.
if i wire the main breaker with hot and nuetral thatll bring in 240. wont that blow my lights?
How many amps would (4) t8 8 foots lamps be pulling?

No, do not backfeed it with 10-2, or 8-2, or 6-2. This is a jackleg, hack installation and as you have already seen has begun to have problems. If you are a tradesman as your name says, then do it correctly.

 

[InPhase277]

BTW if you back feed with 110 v to only one side of the panel, only the circuits on that side will work. I would NOT do it they way you stated, not safe.

Your way is unsafe as well. Back feeding a panel is dangerous, and should not be posted on a DIY site. It's a dangerous operation for a professional to do, God forbid a DIY.

 

[AllanJ]

While you are at it, you might make sure that all the neutral and ground wires arriving at their bus bars in the panel are still tight; retorque all of the little set screws. Then turn off each breaker in turn and tighten the screw holding the circuit hot wire in it. (Do not use tremendous strength)

Don't forget, you must have a transfer switch or interlock mechanism to connect your generator to a panel. It must be impossible for both the utility power and the generator to be connected to the same hot bus bar or circuit hot conductor at the same time.

It is usually easy to set up a barn for generator power since the feed from the (main) house is easily moved to one leg of your transfer switch. The other leg of the transfer switch can have the cable with the male plug that connects to your generator receptacle. The barn subpanel is connected to the common terminals of the transfer switch.

 

[Tradesman14]

If i did back feed with generator with 10 2 and male plug and hook the 10 2 (hot and nuetral) into the main wouldnt it power both sides of the panel? maybe thats whats wrong?

 

[220/221]

Is your generator 240 volts?

I assume your panel is 240V single phase.

If your generator is only 120V you need to jumper between phases to get power to both.

 

[Tradesman14]

how do i jumper between phases. i believe mine is 240 volts its a 5500 watt. im not positive about 240 though

 

[InPhase277]

Sigh.... :no:

In my neck of the woods, this is what we call a cluster f*ck and a fire hazard.

 

[Tradesman14]

ok thanks in phase. im not worried about that right now. it's only temp til i get my URD to run to the house. generator is so i could power the lights and outlets so i can get the concrete poured in there

 

[jbfan]

Sigh.... :no:

In my neck of the woods, this is what we call a cluster f*ck and a fire hazard.

Mine too. Thats right, we are in the same neck of the woods.:laughing:

 

[Tradesman14]

what back feeding from a generator?

 

[Yoyizit]

Mine too. Thats right, we are in the same neck of the woods.:laughing:

". . .A confusing or chaotic situation or event, often caused by a failure of communication, an excessive amount of people attempting to accomplish a given task, or a complex environment."

 

[Scuba_Dave]

it's only temp til i get my URD to run to the house. generator is so i could power the lights and outlets so i can get the concrete poured in there

So right now the ONLY power in the barn is from the generator?
No other feed from the house/power grid?
What kind of panel? 240v? 2 hot feeds?
What wattage size is your generator?
A 5500w generator will put out about 23a @240v
My generator has a plug for 240v 20a output
Connecting 14a wire - HOT & NEUTRAL WILL NOT work
--well it will - but its a hack & will only give you 15a 120v & power 1/2 the panel.

I'd use #10 wire as a Temp setup & 20a 240v breaker
DISCONNECT BEFORE POWER from grid goes in

My gen also has "circuit breakers" of sorts
If you try to draw too much power you will kick out the breaker on the generator
VERY possible this happened
How far was the run with the #14g 15a ?