Generator supply wiring question

[finyuk2005]

Hi there
got a question for the sparkies on here,
my workshop takes power from the house via a heavy SWA cable, (cant remember what size), right now its just connected to a fuse in the consumer unit, but i was planning on getting an elecchicken to sort that mess out.
I am also rewiring the workshop and have added a transfer switch so i can run it off the genny i use for 3 phase.
my question is, would there be a safe way to transfer that power back down the cable to the house in case of a power cut?

thanks!

 

[brightspark]

its not on back feeding supplies of a genny and turning the main switch off to stop it feeding in to the main supply

 

[hotponyshoes]

The only safe way to use the existing cable to feed back to the house will be to put a remote changeover switch on the house incoming supply so it is all isolated from the mains when the genny is running.
You would also need to rewire/remove the change over switch in the workshop as (presumably) the house is isolated from the workshop when the genny is running.

3 reasons for this, if you don't isolate the house from the mains you will send voltage back into the grid which could injure somebody working on the power lines.
You will also probably burn or trip the genny as your neighbour's will be running from the power you are putting into the grid.
Also, when the power does come back on your generator will get fried.
Bloke next door to me melted 2 generators this way by putting plugs on the outlet cables and feeding them into his sockets!

 

[finyuk2005]

The only safe way to use the existing cable to feed back to the house will be to put a remote changeover switch on the house incoming supply so it is all isolated from the mains when the genny is running.
You would also need to rewire/remove the change over switch in the workshop as (presumably) the house is isolated from the workshop when the genny is running.

3 reasons for this, if you don't isolate the house from the mains you will send voltage back into the grid which could injure somebody working on the power lines.
You will also probably burn or trip the genny as your neighbour's will be running from the power you are putting into the grid.
Also, when the power does come back on your generator will get fried.
Bloke next door to me melted 2 generators this way by putting plugs on the outlet cables and feeding them into his sockets!

thanks for the replies!
Its intereting to know you can get such a thing as a remote changover,
In reality i think i will tell dad that if we ever do get a long enough power cut it might be easier to have a changover switch on the mains coming to the house and just wire a socket so he can take the genny round to the house with the tractor and plug in that way.
I was more just curious if it could be done!

cheers!

 

[hotponyshoes]

I think the proper name is ATS or Automatic transfer switch. Connects to a plug on the genny.
Genny fires up a certain time after power goes off then shuts down again when power comes back on.
Linked by a cable or wireless so can be as remote/close as you like.

If your existing changeover switch is good for the incoming amps you could just move it upstream to the house supply and do as you say with moving the generator or running another cable back up to it.
Then you can have power to the house and workshop if needed during a power cut.