TrimixToo
Contributor
OK. Read it. So? Maybe you missed this part of my post: "I fully support connecting generators to houses in accordance with code." Code calls for an interlock device of some sort.
Perhaps you don't understand the point I was trying to make. Even a big (25K) home backup genset won't run a neighborhood. It won't even try for very long (milliseconds, not minutes) before something stops it. Genset breakers, windings melting, or stalling due to load will stop it in its tracks.
Could such a combination arise in practice? Yes. And, very rarely, it has. Here's an example, with the worker failing to follow procedure another big contributing factor:
Improperly Connected Generators Put Emergency Workers at Risk
A generator is convenient when the lights go out, but for the electrical linemen trying to restore your power, a generator could be dangerous.
www.theledger.com
A classic combination of wrong place, wrong time, and mistakes made by more than one player. There's other stuff that had to be true that wasn't in the article. There can't have been many houses connected with any significant electrical load, for example.
So I suppose the risk is more than theoretical. But it's still quite small IMO. That doesn't mean I'll take it (and I won't, since we have an interlock on our main panel).
