# Euro (UK) - Whole House Generator Hook-Up



## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

*ran across this posting - and we have a bit of an international crowd here >>> thought it was worth posting ...
*

Running whole house on Honda EU22i with transfer switch (Europe/Ireland)
I just wanted to share my experience running whole house on Honda EU22i generator. Please note that I live in Ireland, so the voltage/wiring and electrical code is different here than in other parts of the world. My experience is very similar to u/butanerefill described here

Photos:


http://imgur.com/hQuvMmn


Voltage: 230V, 50Hz, single phase
Wiring: TN-C-S with additional earthing pole for every house
One Live (L)
One Neutral (N)
One Earth/Grounding (PE)
Also the transfer switches here tend to be installed before the breaker panel and switch the whole house load between generator and utility. I understand that in US it is usual to have separate panel with selected circuits that can be switched over instead of the whole house.

Myself and my wife (no kids) purchased this house in April and moved in in May this year. It is located in rural area outside of Dublin. I have quickly noticed that electrical infrastructure here is of somehow different standard than the one in the city.

During first 5 months we had ~5 power cuts of different duration varying from few minutes to ~12 hours. To mitigate impact of that to my homelab IT infrastructure I purchased UPS and configured everything in a way that when battery is depleted all my computers and related equipment shuts down automatically and safely. UPS lasts for about 40 minutes. At that point I decided that generator backup is probably overkill.

Few weeks after we got the UPS we lost power again in the early morning. It resulted in freezing cold house and even colder shower before work. It was the time we decided that generator is only way to go. We have also researched news articles and have spoken to the neighbors and it become apparent that during storm season it is usual to have no power here for few days at the time.

After some research I decided to get Honda EU22i (EU2200i in US market). It has 2200W surge output (for up to 30 minutes) and 1800W continuous output. After some tinkering and calculating various loads in our house I was sure that it will be enough.

I hired certified electrician to install 32A inlet outside and transfer switch (called here changeover switch). As obviously 32A is much more then needed for this generator it doesn't matter for the switch itself as it has to have at least the same loading as our electricity company provides which is 64A @230V. This way I can upgrade the generator in the future without changing the cabling/socket. As this is "floating neutral" generator the neutral and ground (earth) had to be bounded in the plug itself to provide protection by RCB on the switch board when generator is in use. THIS IS NORMAL AND REQUIRED BY THE CODE. Also the transfer switch has a green light wired directly to mains supply so I can see when the power is restored without switching the whole house over.

Changeover switch is installed between the meter and fuse board, so when in "generator mode" it provides the power to the whole house in the same way as when run from utility power. When the generator is connected and running there is no difference whatsoever for the house and we can live normal life within reason as described below. It is also important that we can switch over to generator in under 5 minutes. I can't imagine the frustration of running extension cords through the house just to see power switching back on as soon as I finish.

A little bit of background about our electricity needs:


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