Posted: 8/28/2026 12:52:30 PM EDT
[Last Edit: urbanredneck][Edited]
|
Going to leave a generator at our other house. Think I'm going to put a generator connection on the well pump circuit which I believe is 3 wire 220. The generator is a four wire outlet. Plan is to get a 4 wire to 3 wire adapter to plug the generator into the outlet. Would that be safe? |
|
Originally Posted By DVCER: The pump is 240 I assume with no need for 120? @dvcer Correct. Guess I left that out. But I may get another adapter to run 120 out of the outlet for some type of heat. Have had freeze up at the well head. |
|
You should run a real neutral to the pump room instead of pretending the ground is a neutral. Especially if you want to put a 120v outlet there. |
Exposure to views that distress and offend is a form of education unto itself. -U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Reges v Cauce
|
Originally Posted By PepePewPew: You should run a real neutral to the pump room instead of pretending the ground is a neutral. Especially if you want to put a 120v outlet there. Absolutely. 4 wires are needed. It may be a good idea to simply put a small sub panel out there. It sounds like this is purely for backup and all manually done. If so you can keep it all separate from utility power, which you definitely don’t want to back feed. Sadly most pump houses seem to get an anything goes with regards to the electrical. Probably why a fair number of electrocution deaths occur there. Ground everything. |
If life was easy nobody would quit.
|
Originally Posted By urbanredneck: I may get another adapter to run 120 out of the outlet for some type of heat. Have had freeze up at the well head. A 120v space heater pulling 1kw from a 3kw 240v generator may not work well. A 300w 120v heater wire running on one phase of an 8kw generator will likely work fine. |
|
Originally Posted By DVCER: Absolutely. 4 wires are needed. It may be a good idea to simply put a small sub panel out there. It sounds like this is purely for backup and all manually done. If so you can keep it all separate from utility power, which you definitely don’t want to back feed. Sadly most pump houses seem to get an anything goes with regards to the electrical. Probably why a fair number of electrocution deaths occur there. Ground everything. I've got some rebar and put a ground rod out there if there is not one already. But running a 4 wire line out there would require 50 yards of digging and that is not gonna happen. I have a 4 wire dryer connection in the house I could run off of and there are sub panels out in the sheds and old laundry house that I can work with. I wanted to use the well house precisely because it was further from the house and would reduce noise. |
|
Originally Posted By urbanredneck: I've got some rebar and put a ground rod out there if there is not one already. But running a 4 wire line out there would require 50 yards of digging and that is not gonna happen. I have a 4 wire dryer connection in the house I could run off of and there are sub panels out in the sheds and old laundry house that I can work with. I wanted to use the well house precisely because it was further from the house and would reduce noise. Don't use rebar go buy a galvanized ground rod or a copper or copper clad ground rod. |
Joined:
Mar 2026
Posts:
913
EE: 100% (1)
OH, USA
|
Originally Posted By urbanredneck: I've got some rebar and put a ground rod out there if there is not one already. But running a 4 wire line out there would require 50 yards of digging and that is not gonna happen. I have a 4 wire dryer connection in the house I could run off of and there are sub panels out in the sheds and old laundry house that I can work with. I wanted to use the well house precisely because it was further from the house and would reduce noise. Originally Posted By urbanredneck: Originally Posted By DVCER: Absolutely. 4 wires are needed. It may be a good idea to simply put a small sub panel out there. It sounds like this is purely for backup and all manually done. If so you can keep it all separate from utility power, which you definitely don’t want to back feed. Sadly most pump houses seem to get an anything goes with regards to the electrical. Probably why a fair number of electrocution deaths occur there. Ground everything. I've got some rebar and put a ground rod out there if there is not one already. But running a 4 wire line out there would require 50 yards of digging and that is not gonna happen. I have a 4 wire dryer connection in the house I could run off of and there are sub panels out in the sheds and old laundry house that I can work with. I wanted to use the well house precisely because it was further from the house and would reduce noise. Ditch Witch will knock that out in like 20min… as long as you know you won’t hit some other utility. The hardest part will literally be taking it in and out of the pickup truck. |