Original Post
Written by
Edited August 10, 2022
at 08:21 AM
by
firmanpowerequipment via eBay Daily Deals [ebay.com] has
Firrman T07571 - 7500W Running / 9400W Peak Tri Fuel Generator (Refurbished) for
$549.99.
Shipping is Free
Note: Includes a 2 year Allstate Warranty
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The unit I got at Costco at the time came with a nice but short splitter that connects to the 30A 240v receptacle. I don't think this one does.
I had to read the wiring diagram for this, but here is the summary:
The standard home outlet pair is connected to one line, the other 30A 120V (L5-30R type) outlet has the other. Each one can give you half the rated power at the most.
If you are not connecting this directly to your home via one of the 240v outlets (and in that case you probably know all this), you will need to get something like this in order to use the other line (phase)
https://www.amazon.com/HZXVOGEN-G...B08C9J6F44
Connect it to the L14-30R 240v receptacle. Simmilar to what came with mine but long. Probably the best choice to get power into your home and then just run some extension cords and fan out to your stuff.
Do NOT short the two lines and think you'll get double the power. It doesn't work that way.
The unit I got at Costco at the time came with a nice but short splitter that connects to the 30A 240v receptacle. I don't think this one does.
I had to read the wiring diagram for this, but here is the summary:
The standard home outlet pair is connected to one line, the other 30A 120V (L5-30R type) outlet has the other. Each one can give you half the rated power at the most.
If you are not connecting this directly to your home via one of the 240v outlets (and in that case you probably know all this), you will need to get something like this in order to use the other line (phase)
https://www.amazon.com/HZXVOGEN-G...B08C9J6F44
Connect it to the L14-30R 240v receptacle. Simmilar to what came with mine but long. Probably the best choice to get power into your home and then just run some extension cords and fan out to your stuff.
Do NOT short the two lines and think you'll get double the power. It doesn't work that way.
1) It voids the warranty (per support);
2) For some individuals it burns out the bridge rectifier.
With that said, it is very easy to remove the N-G bond if you want to (at your own risk). Some other individuals have had success removing the N-G bond without burning out the rectifier.
More info here:
https://www.powerequipm
With that said, the generator itself is great, but I would advise individuals looking to power their entire house to keep the above in mind.
The unit I got at Costco at the time came with a nice but short splitter that connects to the 30A 240v receptacle. I don't think this one does.
I had to read the wiring diagram for this, but here is the summary:
The standard home outlet pair is connected to one line, the other 30A 120V (L5-30R type) outlet has the other. Each one can give you half the rated power at the most.
If you are not connecting this directly to your home via one of the 240v outlets (and in that case you probably know all this), you will need to get something like this in order to use the other line (phase)
https://www.amazon.com/HZXVOGEN-G...B08C9J6F44
Connect it to the L14-30R 240v receptacle. Simmilar to what came with mine but long. Probably the best choice to get power into your home and then just run some extension cords and fan out to your stuff.
Do NOT short the two lines and think you'll get double the power. It doesn't work that way.
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1) It voids the warranty (per support);
2) For some individuals it burns out the bridge rectifier.
With that said, it is very easy to remove the N-G bond if you want to (at your own risk). Some other individuals have had success removing the N-G bond without burning out the rectifier.
More info here:
https://www.powerequipm
With that said, the generator itself is great, but I would advise individuals looking to power their entire house to keep the above in mind.
Weird, the URL is wrapped on my end and works. I'll keep fiddling with it.
Regarding the N-G bond, a lot of generators like this come with a ground tied into the neutral. This is needed when running extension cords, like on a job site (to avoid shocking yourself or worst). When hooking into a house, many circuit panels, like my own house, have the neutral and ground bonded already, and it's a safety and code issue having two N-G bonds on the same circuit (running in parallel). Most other brands I've seen allow you (and show you how) to lift the bond yourself. Firman however is very weird about this and doesn't support it. The link I included above shows someone trying to lift the bond anyway and it fries their bridge rectifier and I found out personally it voids the generators warranty.
One additional note here, you could setup your house with a switched neutral panel which would be okay, as that setup essentially isolates part of the main panel from the generator, and you'd end up with one N-G bonded circuit. In my case I had a Reliance Transfer switch which only switches the hot line, and the neutral is shared (another common way to setup whole house backup).
I wanted to help raise awareness on a "gotcha" that certainly got me. I ended up going with a Champion inverter generator because of all the issues above, plus the Champion has a really low THD.
120vac is a sinewave (not really, as high THD (total harmonic distortion) makes it look like crap) but lets assume it's a sine wave.
120v is the amplitude. 60Hz is the frequency. There is also phase. With one wave, it doesn't mean much here. But with two waves it makes all the difference.
With a "240vac" source here in the USA, that means 2 x 120vac lines that have 180 degrees phase offset. As in, when one sine wave is at the top, the other is at the bottom. The DIFFERENCE between those two lines is the 240vac we talk about.
So, in a typical house, your electric dryer needs 240vac (Both lines), your central air, electric stove. Everything else takes 120vac. (One line) Which line? It doesn't matter. Your breaker panel is setup to spread the load. Usually each room will tap on to 1 of the 2 lines.
In the rest of the world, were people are better at math, it is usually 3 phase 240vac. With 120 degrees between phases. That gives you around 380vac between any 2 phases. (No, not 480)
So, if you do bring something back with you from abroad that runs on 240ac (say a hair dryer that actually dries) you can connect it two the pair of phases here (dryer plug in the garage with some adapter) The frequency may be off (50Hz vs 60Hz) but most things are forgiving.
120vac is a sinewave (not really, as high THD (total harmonic distortion) makes it look like crap) but lets assume it's a sine wave.
120v is the amplitude. 60Hz is the frequency. There is also phase. With one wave, it doesn't mean much here. But with two waves it makes all the difference.
With a "240vac" source here in the USA, that means 2 x 120vac lines that have 180 degrees phase offset. As in, when one sine wave is at the top, the other is at the bottom. The DIFFERENCE between those two lines is the 240vac we talk about.
So, in a typical house, your electric dryer needs 240vac (Both lines), your central air, electric stove. Everything else takes 120vac. (One line) Which line? It doesn't matter. Your breaker panel is setup to spread the load. Usually each room will tap on to 1 of the 2 lines.
In the rest of the world, were people are better at math, it is usually 3 phase 240vac. With 120 degrees between phases. That gives you around 380vac between any 2 phases. (No, not 480)
So, if you do bring something back with you from abroad that runs on 240ac (say a hair dryer that actually dries) you can connect it two the pair of phases here (dryer plug in the garage with some adapter) The frequency may be off (50Hz vs 60Hz) but most things are forgiving.
I almost did this to use a real 240V kettle but there is no way to be code compliant with it. Overseas 240V appliances usually switch only the hot wire and not both hot and the "neutral". Electrically it doesn't really matter unless the device is grounding to the hot "neutral". The actual issue is that none of the appliances have the certifications to work in North America so if you do this and your house burns down (whether related to this or not), you're 100% SOL with insurance unless you can prove the kettle isn't what caused the fire. I'm still trying to find a true 240V UL listed kettle.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HGPR...ct_de
I use it for home backup with transfer switch. it's wired thru a sub-panel and powers my first floor, including HVAC. I do have a soft-start kit on the HVAC unit.
I do need to be mindful of the load I'm putting on it, because 7500w isn't a ton…
I have a router and other sensitive electronics hooked up to a large Panamax UPS/line conditioner. The Panamax doesn't like the power the generator outputs, but it's happy with a quality voltage regulator between the two.
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NG is a superior emergency fuel... as long as an earthquake didn't knock it out.
I wouldn't plumb in a dedicated NG line for a genset, I'd just steal the one to the BBQ or other things I don't need like patio heater.