back feeding a generator into a 240 dryer hook up

well you did it the correct, don't burn your house down, kinda way. but the other way would have worked technically.

No, it's not safe, but it will work. You could also just hook it up to any 120V outlet and it would work.

and remember, if the power goes out and youre hooked to the grid and theirs leakage, you could kill a utility worker. just sayin.

you did the right thing.

It would depend on the wire size feeding the dryer outlet and how many amps the generator is outputting. It Might work. Then again, you might kill somebody if you would forget to switch off the main.

Your better off with a properly installed transfer switch. Plus you added value to your home.

+1

plus mains dont shut off the neutral, so you wire something wrong and boom. you just sent 120v down the power companies neutral. yikes.

So you have 120v wiring? And you want to feed 240v generator into it?
Why would it fry it? But how would your dryer run on 240v if its a 120v dryer?
Im thinking the higher voltage would cause damage to dryer circuits.

I had my one house done with the new box and all and it cost a fortune.At the other house the electrician did the dryer deal and between the wire,plugs and his labor it cost me 75 bucks.........Just remember to shut off your main breaker before you hook up the genny!!!!!!!

using the proper transfer switch protects you(the homeowner)from various liabilities.

In some states, if you backfed and it caused a fire due to that improper hookup, the home owner can be responsible for ALL Costs that would normally be covered by insurance.

I think you can do this, feed 240 into 120, and the appliance just uses 120.
But not the other way around obviously as you cant get 240 from 120.

How many amps?

If its less than thirty your OK, just remember to kill the main switch in the panel.

Dryers are usually on a two pole 30, and will work as the main disconnect.

If you had a 50 amp receptacle out side it would be excellent! You would have the bigger cable, 8 or 6.

The dryer only has number 10. Maximum load of 30 amps.

How could it cause a fire? Current is determined by what the appliance uses, it would just pull the same current at 120.

I've done it without issue. Make sure your wires are in good shape.

However, if you have a condensor unit, depending upon its size, you might have the bigger wire at that point. Provided its got wire rated for 40-50 amps, that's #8 or #6.

It's stupid and probably illegal to backfeed a generator like that. If you do kill a utility worker (or anyone else) you would be up for manslaughter or murder charges.

Do tell... how many megawatts is your generator?

This guy is right. You can run it back through the dryer feed but if you exceeed the draw amps of the wiring (30 amps) back through you main panel you may start a fire or the breaker will trip. I think putting that main switch was the right thing to do. What are you powering ? the whole house with a generator? you definitaly need this whole house switch.

The xfer switch is basically taking the thought out of doing exactly the same thing as back feeding the breaker bus. It works just fine. Don't forget to throw your main breaker to disconnect yourself from the utility company first.

I did this for 15 days straight during and after hurricane Ike in Houston. For a 6500 watt generator I used a #10 wire to reduce voltage loss up to approximately 100 feet. I used the correct sized plugs and outlets which were rated for at least 30Amps 220Volts. I felt very comfortable with this arrangement, but I have a lot of experience with this.

If you do not, its best to leave this to a qualified electrician, use the transfer switch and be happy with the fact that you have power without killing somebody or burning down your house. $500 is cheap compared to the alternatives.

How many amps is the Generator ? @ 240 volts ?

Dryers are typicaly 240v in the US.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

So you can't just plug them in and use them? You have to have a special circuit run for them?

The chances of that are extremely remote, they have access to the meter, but shouldn't be in the panel at all. They don't usually mess with main disconnects on houses because the utility companies don't want to be responsible for damages, simply lock out the panel.

Just remember to disconnect the Gen. When your ready to transfer back over.

People fail to remember that the only time such things are done is during a loss of power, and the only time it would be actually implemented is when someone is actually home and will be monitoring the whole set up wondering when service will be restored.

I have had friends hook up jumper cables in order to have power till the electric was turned on, if your worried make a sign warning people, therefore they know.

It's a two pole breaker fed by a single phase panel.

(2) 120 volt poles with (1) common or Ground wire

Sorry I should say ground because you're not supposed to feed a 220V outlet with the common wire. Only a ground wire.

for more info

I made a plug for my genset to go into my garage 220 outlet. That allows me to run the generator out by my garage and lessen the noise in the house. I just plug it in and start it up after I shut off the main breaker at the pole.

You should shut off all other breakers and turn on one at a time after the generator is warmed up for a couple minutes. If you have too many things running at once it will trip your breaker. You will be limited to the size and length of wire from the gen to the load and the size of the breaker in your generator circuit.

Never run 2 big loads at the same time. You can sometimes get away with it if they don't start up at the same time, but any motor pulls double the amps during initial startup. You can counter this by adding a couple of large 120 vac capacitors to your generator output wire. This will help limit surge when an appliance kicks on.

Code changes, 220 volt appliances now have both hots a neutral and an equipment ground, included dryers and electric ranges.

Yeah but why? Why do you not have specific 120v dryers? That just plug straight into the socket?
Like a totally different world.
The only dryer you would get hard wired here is an industrial/commercial dryer which would be fed by real utility 3 phase.
Here they plug into a 10amp socket through 20 amp single pole breaker, standard house power circuit.

Ok, if main breaker is off how does it get back in the powerlines? If I Turn off the main breaker it kills the power in my house shouldn't it work both ways?If i'm running 25 amps in a 30 amp dryer breaker why is this a problem? I've done this off and on since 1997 never had a problem... but after this power outage i'm going to change to a lockout.