Hurricane Florence Prep

[Neutron]

I havent seen it this high in the 3 years i have been here. And we have a ways to go

 

[Speedling]

Just don’t stick the strap or rope through any slots or holes in that shaft if you like your arm. Also don’t wrap too much length.

True! Been there done that!

 

[veedubtek]

Took a tree down, just in case. I've been questioning it for awhile now, better safe than sorry they say...

 

[robert843]

The river, she is a rising!


View attachment 83200

Is your dock under water already here?

 

[McMark]

Continued mojo that everyone comes out unscathed. Stay safe!

 

[jcyamaharider]

Praying for you guys down there!!!

 

[Julian]

Our power was out from 3:50am to 9:30am today....set up the generator at 8:30....which helped to guarantee the power would come on soon!

 

[Neutron]

We are doing good. Just got internet on my phone back. Water came close to house last night. Shut down the jenny and put away till morning. Tough night with little sleep. Water receded by the morning. Back on the jenny all day.
Been relentless rain and wind all day.

My bridge and lower lot took all the damage. House, truck and boat fine

 

[mdchachi]

New Bern has mentioned a lot in the news. Glad you're safe with minimal property damage. What's normally back there? A creek?

 

[Neutron]

Yes a creek with on average 3inchs to a foot. And 8 feet lower than the base of the fence. It came up 5 more feet than that pic last night.
The bridge i built to go over some wetland area to get to the creek

 

[96Pirate]

For those wiring up a generator.

-SHUT OFF THE MAIN to your house
- Go BIG on the cord
- Wear leather gloves, eye protection, and rubber soles when pluging it in or flipping breakers.
- Shut down while fueling
- Do not run it in a garage or under living space even with the door open.

Common sense stuff but in a pinch some take chances .... its not worth it.

My custom cord (door knob for size reference)
View attachment 83128

Just heard someone died from plugging in their generator. Early news so dont know specifics.

 

[PEARCE]

Just heard someone died from plugging in their generator. Early news so dont know specifics.

There have been 4 deaths reported so far according to my Weather channel news feed. The guy plugging in his generator was one of them. Ya'll stay safe.

 

[Neutron]

A woman and her infant child were killed when a tree crushed their house. Husband in critical

 

[Mainah]

Just heard someone died from plugging in their generator. Early news so dont know specifics.

That is awful. I don’t know the cause but obviously all connections to any household wiring should be done by a licensed electrician. Grounding is super important. Some setups require a seperate chassis ground on the generator. In my case I went with 14-50 nema connectors 6/2- 8/2 RV wire and confirmed that my box was properly earth grounded suppling the box earth ground to the earth ground prong and that my generator chassis was connected to the earth ground prong on the other end. Wearing a welding mask, welding gloves, and rubber soled hiking boots may sound excessive for plugging in a geneator but that is what I do even with my robust wiring and a ground prong that is longer than the others (ever notice that ground prongs are just a tad longer than the others on male 120/240 plugs? This is for a reason.

One major warning I may have missed is if plugging into panel or household wiring first plug it in there before plugging into the generator. Doing this the other way around means having live prongs.

 

[Jgorm]

I chop off the ground plug with wire cutters. I rarely even shutoff the power to swap outlets and switches. Maybe i should be more careful! To me the ground is just a redundant common. It's only there for that remote chance that the common wire is cut while you are exposed to a bare wire. Besides the wire color, they are interchangeable to the main panel (but not a subpanel)

 

[RedBarron55]

The "redundant" ground is to help keep from killing you or others.
The neutral is the same AT the entrance.
Think of the ground as an equipment ground, grounding the metal equipment cover and if there were a short inside then the breaker would trip and perhaps not kill you when you touch it.
The equipment ground and actual ground should be at the same potential so there is no potential between you (standing on the ground) and the equipment, internal short or not.

 

[Julian]

I chop off the ground plug with wire cutters. I rarely even shutoff the power to swap outlets and switches. Maybe i should be more careful! To me the ground is just a redundant common. It's only there for that remote chance that the common wire is cut while you are exposed to a bare wire. Besides the wire color, they are interchangeable to the main panel (but not a subpanel)

I hope to heck you are kidding??

 

[Julian]

Question....using a freestanding generator and plugging extension cords into it (IE not connecting to the house wiring), is it still recommended to ground the generator? If so to what?

 

[Wisefam22]

Question....using a freestanding generator and plugging extension cords into it (IE not connecting to the house wiring), is it still recommended to ground the generator? If so to what?

We dont ground when we tailgate and hook it up to the trailer to power TV ect

 

[Neutron]

Well finally got out of the neighborhood, cleared a few roads with a friend and his tractor. Still roads impassable and flooded.
We are pretty much stuck here in New Bern.