On Sat, 15 Nov 2014 11:27:36 -0800
Josiah Luscher <[email protected]> dijo:

>Most important thing:  Portable generators are made in two different
>ways: An isolated neutral and a bonded neutral.  If your not using a
>transfer switch you need to have the neutral bonded to the following
>things: ground (that means a grounding electrode, and a grounding
>electrode conductor), the frame of the generator, and the equipment
>grounding conductor.
>
>Without those connections the safety of your setup will be severely
>compromised. (Most portable generators have that all wired internally,
>except for the grounding electrode which, if the use of the generator
>is temporary, I think your allowed to skip it.)

My house has four 8 foot grounding rods and two water bonds. The
plumbing is all galvanized, including the main running to the street,
so the water bonds are secure. The generator wiring in the house will
all be completely separate from the house wiring, but I had planned to
ground the generator to a water pipe that is very close to where the
generator will live.

I went shopping for a double conversion UPS and discovered that they
are pretty pricey. I didn't find any refurbs, but even a refurb would
probably cost several hundred dollars. Rather than spend the money on a
double conversion UPS I might be better off to use my existing UPS and
get a better generator. The generator I was planning on getting is
$1,000, but there is a very nice generator for $1,600 running off a
Honda GX 390 engine that the manufacturer advertises as safe for
sensitive electronic equipment:

http://www.generatorsales.com/order/03369_alt.asp?page=H03369

The problem with this generator is that the seller has modified the
Honda engine to run on natural gas, thus voiding the Honda warranty.
The seller offers a two-year warranty, but is located on the east
coast. On the other hand the GX 390 has been around for a long time and
is wildly popular. There are enough parts on the net to build the whole
engine from scratch, and at pretty reasonable prices. I am less
concerned about the generator itself because the only thing you usually
have to worry about are the brushes. 
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