generator missing the 115/240 volt recepticle

[plotthound]

I only want to run the furnace,fridge and freezer if need be.

[38racing]

The picture helps....I see that one terminal is NOT USED...So you would need a pigtail to plug in a drill...
Every genset I have seen had a couple of 115 taps plus the four prong.....that's where I was getting lost

Most generators up here in Canada have the 4 terminal 120/240v receptacles (along with maybe a duplex 120v). Using the plug shown and 4 wire cable they get wired into a transfer box which allows safe switch over from the house current to a subpanel feeding the circuits served by the generator. My lincoln welder/generator was actually an exception, having the 115v duplex and a 3 terminal 240 only plug (red,black, ground , no neutral). Hydro inspector pointed that out to me when I wired my detached garage and told me how to run separate feed wires for my 120v stuff and the 240v for my well pump. My hookup was just 3 individual circuits without a transfer switch. I just move a twist lock plug from house feed box to genset feedbox.

[KE4AVB]

38racing,

What you have is a bonded Neutral setup; otherwords, Ground and Neutral are tied together somewhere. Four wire plugs uses what is called a floating neutral setup which may be still be bonded if the ground and the neutral are tried together somewhere in the generator. Most electrical setups usually have the Neutral and Ground tried together at your home electrical circuit breaker panel. The prefer method of connecting is to have the neutral floating at the generator where you can and need to earth ground the chassis.

[bobodu]

I was trying to envision combination with a round 230 v receptacle molded on top of the 115 v square one.I guess I should have worded it that way a long time ago...
Wired the house up for a generator two years ago and still haven't tested it...

[38racing]

38racing,

What you have is a bonded Neutral setup; otherwords, Ground and Neutral are tied together somewhere. Four wire plugs uses what is called a floating neutral setup which may be still be bonded if the ground and the neutral are tried together somewhere in the generator. Most electrical setups usually have the Neutral and Ground tried together at your home electrical circuit breaker panel. The prefer method of connecting is to have the neutral floating at the generator where you can and need to earth ground the chassis.

Basically what the inspector said. He said one of the challenges is that a house gets setup for one type of generator and then the generator gets replaced with the other type.Initially thought my setup would save some money since I didn't need the transfer switch for isolation of generator feed from house feed but those twist locks are not that cheap. I only had the 240v to the well pump, a 120v to my oil fired hot water tank (used for heating) and 120v to my airhandler for the heat distribution (and a single wall plug on that circuit). I replaced my heating with a regular NG furnace and standard electric water heater. So now just have the 2 circuits , the 240v for well pump and 120v for the furnace and wall plug. A lot of people here are opting for the 4 terminal connection to a transfer outside at the meter. That means anything in the house can be run from the generator. I wonder how many of them realize that you are still limited to the generator capacity so you may not be able to cook supper and dry clothes at the same time.

[plotthound]

picked up my receptacle yesterday and installed it.were all good to go and it looks way better with no wires hanging out.

thanks for everyones help