How do you connect 2 basic generators together in series, to power a house?

Question

Generators are typical small ones that are usually bought at Lowes or a Home Depot. I want to hook them together to power my house.

Answer 1

I could give you a lot of techno speak to tell you why, but the bottom line is that it is totally impractical to wire them together. You can not syncronize them and that is manditory if they are connected together.

In any case, it would be in parallel, not in series. Since it is impractical, that is a moot point too.

A better idea is to split your house into two separate sections. One would be powered by each of the two generators. This is not that easy to do for most houses if you want 220v available. I will explain that in a minute.

If you only need 110v, you can connect one generator to each side of your breaker box's main lug. It is obviously critical to make sure you are totally disconnected from the power company's grid when you do this. If you are connected, it will cause a world of hurt. You must be sure about this.

Also be aware that the 110v output of the generator is probably not going to give you as much amperage as you expect. This is quite doable if you know enough about electricity to do it safely.

That is the practical answer. A purely theoretical one would be to partition your breaker box into two sections. Each section would be 220v, just like the power from the power company. One generator would power one section, the other would power the other section.

The reason that is not practical is that you cannot easily partition the breaker box. A breaker box has only one main bus for each side. For this to work with one box, it would have to have two main busses for each side. It is totally impractical for most uses. If it was really important to do this, a better idea would be to have two independent breaker boxes.

Each would be powered from the power company as normal. If you needed to go "off grid," you would disconnect each box from the power company and connect the one generator to each box.

This would allow you to use the maximum practical power from each generator and would be easy to cut over from power company to generator and back.

The drawback is that you need a much more complicated breaker box setup. Most people would find this impractical.

Again, it is critical to life and property that you know what you are doing and that you do it properly. This is not something to design yourself, especially if you think there was a way to connect them in series.

Answer 2

Instead of small generators, go to an electrical supply house and buy (1) good genny, that will be able to power most if not all of your house. You can get them with a manual transfer switch( you have to throw the switch to start it up) or an automatic transfer switch( powers up automatically in the event of an outtage) Either way, it is complicated, you will most likely need to get your service upgraded, and have the genny, transfer switch, and energency panel installed, tested by a registered electrician. Sorry, I think that wasn't what you wanted to hear. But If you try to do it yourself, and get it wrong, you can seriously damage your electrical system. Generac, Inc. is a very popular, and reputable company that makes whole house systems. BE WARNED!!! These systems are NOT cheap. I have not heard of a successful attempt to use two or more small home center generators to power a house.

Answer 3

in series no in parrellel maybe but its very complited you have to get the phase angle right and thats the hard part I have heard in the old days of using a light between the two gennys and when the light goes out you connect them but this would be a trial and error sort of thing