Generator House Plug - Is It Allowed?

I've a switch and generator. All are outside in a shed to run the house if needed

Isn't there an apt name on that kind ^^^ of arrangement 😱⚡️🔌

I was only off for a few hours but have a generator and was going to try this, I was strongly advised not to backfill with a three pin plug, as that plug is an absolute killer if anyone touches it. You can’t know that someone won’t unknowingly unplug that plug and touch the pins.

@downcow Ya, they are known as ‘suicide cords’ in the US. That’s why my 16 amp socket is male. It has the exposed pins. The pins are never live while exposed however. The cable from the generator (or inverter/power bank) needs to have a female plug on the other end as it has no pins exposed if it gets plugged out while the genny is running.
it’s the opposite to what normally happens in a house as the socket in a house is live and the plug is only ever energised when safely concealed in the socket.

Leaving aside the issues around doing this correctly (I.e. not with a suicide plug) one issue I can see for the proposed setup of connecting the battery to the house is I don’t see a high output connector for a 16A socket or similar to hook into the hook up to your consumer unit. Most generators will have a 16a or 32A output (the blue plugs) for this type of connection.

Generator or inverter output would be 230V AC with a round female socket to accept a 230V 16A plug like this

Other end of the lead from the generator should have a female connector to connect to the house external power input.

The house would need a changeover switch between the grid and generator and a male external power input to connect the lead from the generator to.

this is so dangerous and potentially lethal

Both poles live and neutral need to be isolated

There’s a chance of reverse polarity either on the generator/connection leads/house wiring

This could send a back feed along the esbn network.This could lead to your 230v actually stepping up when it meets an esbn transformer with possible 10,000volts on the system

Absolute lunacy

There’s reasons a change over switch is required

Thanks for the info both, I'll ask my electrician about getting a switch fitted.

Breaking the neutral seems to be very much up for debate with different electricians having different advice on it and has been a topic of major discussion here before. Some more knowledgable than me suggest that only the live needs to be broken and in fact the neutral should not be broken by a change over switch to in order to maintain the neutral/earth bonding in the meter box.

It is hard to know the correct way as there are some qualified people adamant one way is correct and others that the other way is.

As above, changeover switch is the safe way to do it.

Good luck

Yes you must have a change over switch but it is not clear if the change over needs to or even should switch the neutral.

If you switch the neutral then you must handle neutral bonding and keeping in mind you can’t neutral bond in two places it is not so straight forward.

I am in the middle of debating this with both my own and the solar electrician so I will update the outcome of that also.

Have a look at this thread: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058002722/generator-change-over-switch/p1

The only official guidance I have ever across calls for full changeover. If neutral earth bonding is required, it should be provided at the generator - but most generators don’t have a ‘neutral’ - it’s two phases at 115V.

Why would the main breaker on the distribution board only break live or neutral, and not both?

How would that work, because the first thing the feed to the house hits is a transformer.

if there was no reference to earth from the generator supply, would that not reduce risk anyway as there would surely be less tendency for current to complete an earth path to the generator?

The other thing is that if the power from the generator fed back through the CU and company fuses, wouldn't one side be grounded anyway in home installations?

I would fit a dedicated c/o switch, but it seems like a considerable amount of expense and time to basically arrange a feed from a small generator that is fine operating in the shed, but too noisy to put near the house.

I think of it like the light fittings I purchased from Amazon. It's dangerous if no one knows the system, but as I live here alone, I do what I deem acceptable to myself in terms of risk.

I did photograph and report two items of electrical gear bought from Amazon by the way, who assured me they are mad keen on safety.

I notice others picked up too but the switch and lampholders reported are still on sale!

I certainly don't offer this as justification for letting my standards fall below what is expected regarding safety, but I know the risks and my twin male supply lead is under lock and key :-)

Thanks, you are correct, but the DIY "death cable" that people tend to use for occasional domestic power back up via their generator, would have fuses in both plugs.

Could this be promoted as a safety feature with twin male 13A power cords on sale eventually :-)