What's that outlet on the outside of the red building?...Is it single phase 220 or another 110 line?...The shape looks like single phase 220 like a dryer or stove would use...
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Disclaimer - I know this isn't Mike Holt's forum. I just got a little obsessive over this and as I said, it gave me a few needed plug-ins to the benefit of this old house. I don't know how to idle, only run at WOT. One positive thing I can say about my current internment at the Big Orange ... Box ... is that learning is where you find it and I have really, really absorbed a lot of good info about electric methods, practices, etc as it relates to residential power just through observation. I used to install DC systems that only ran at 48-52 VDC, but used 25-50 amps. Plenty enough to kill the incautious. I also audited them for the manufacturer for warranty compliance (different time for sure). I had plenty of experience with that sort of thing and residential stuff is simple by comparison - but there's a big difference between knowing it and doing it.
It's an L14-30P generator inlet flange. About $50. Most portable generators come with a couple of NEMA 5-15 or 5-20 outlets (which I had been using with cord & plug up to this point) and a 30 amp L14-30R 125/250 twist lock receptacle. Most people just stick that thing on the side or back of their house. When you need it, roll her out and plug it into the inlet the $75 pre-made waterproof 25' cord. Then you have electricity.
And you have a gas engine pounding away 25' outside your window ....... maybe out in the rain or snow.
The inlet has 4 wires so it can make 120/240 single phase. It backfeeds into the panel via a standard 30 amp double pole breaker, yes like a dryer. In fact, some (nitwit type) people just use their dryer outlet and a male-male suicide cord, but forget about that nonsense. On a GE panel the inlet breaker has to go in the top right two slots 2 & 4 and you have to add an interlock so it's generator or main/ one or the other but never both so I don't energize the utility pole and zap the guy from Central Hudson. So no more cords and power strips, pulling out of fridge. Everything works just don't overload the generator. Nice to have all that low wattage LED lighting so I can just flip on the lights normally. It's very quiet and out of the rain where I have it. I would've actually put the inlet inside the shed but you can't - it's clearly labeled and would be a no-no. It's off to the side so the door doesn't hit it.
So the last bit was the oversize conductors. I got a 25' hunk of 8/4 SOOW off eBay. The whole thing is sized for 30 amp but my old genny only has a 20 amp L14-20R, so I put an L14-20P on the SOOW cord and as soon as the inspector left changed the breaker to a double 20. And, because the Universe has a sense of humor once all was said and done, once it was all connected - I couldn't get the f%$##!!@ plug to go in the face of the generator! Homelite swine. I'd never used the twist lock and it has a rubber flappy cap thing on it. Turns out it's hard rubber, won't compress and it totally prevents you from inserting the plug all the way and twistiing it to lock. A bit of profanity and some field engineering took place and it's fixed. That's all it took on a warm, bright sunny day. Encountering that little glitch when you are outside in the rain, maybe with a 25' cord would probably require a
lot more profanity.