wiring portable generator to home service panel

Question

I have a portable generator neutral bonded to the frame, I use a 4 prong twist lock extension cord plugged into a 4 prong inlet which is wired to my 200 amp home panel green wire to ground bar white to neutral bar and two hots to 30 amp breaker, my panel has neutral and ground bonded. will this work?

Answer 1

It will work, but to be code legal and safe, your 30 amp generator breaker needs to be installed with a mechanical interlock to prevent the main breaker and generator breaker to be "on" at the same time. These are commonly available.

BUT, (and this is a huge BUT) if you don't have a main breaker (like a 200 amp breaker that disconnects everything from the mains) you can't do this. If you don't have a main breaker that you can mechanically interlock with your generator feed breaker, you probably have something called a split buss panel. If so, you really can't do it safely or legally.

I ran into this situation in a former home. What I did is get a sub-panel with a Manual Transfer switch and moved the important circuits to it. It came with the mechanical interlock to prevent any possibility of backfeeding onto the grid and endangering lineman . Don't get one of those cheesy Generac generator panels, they are very expensive and a waste of money. A decent sub-panel with the interlock would work better and save a lot of money.