Steve - Thanks for the update, but now I'm really puzzled. Let's put aside the original issue of an abnormally high output power from the Lister and discuss what appears to be a safety issue. I'm going to try to do some text-based schematics to illustrate the important points.
Standard wiring for a house has a 240 VAC feed coming from the pole or underground transformer in the form of two 120 volt circuits with a common neutral (sometimes referred to as a " return") running 180 degrees out of phase with one another. The 180 degree phase relationship is what causes the hot-to-hot line voltage to be 240 VAC instead of zero. In your house, you have 240 VAC appliances (dryer, stove, hot water heater) and 120 VAC appliances (TV, computer, refrigerator, etc.). The 240 VAC loads are connected across the two hot lines "phase to phase" while the 120 VAC loads are connected from one phase to neutral - effectively ground. Like this:
Hot-1 >---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <---
| | | | |
120 VAC 120 v applicances |
| | | | |
Neutral >--------------------------------------------------------- 240 VAC Appliances
| | | | |
120 VAC 120 v applicances |
| | | | |
Hot-2 >---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <---
One of the features of this configuration is that regardless of the current drawn by the 120 Volt appliances, they
only see 120 VAC (subject to minor fluctuations in the input power). Now lets look at your wiring configuration:
Hot-1 >---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <---
| | | | |
VAC 120 v applicances |
| | | | |
| | | | 240 VAC Appliances
| | | | |
VAC 120 v applicances |
| | | | |
Hot-2 >---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <---
The 120 volt applicances are now connected in a series configuration and the voltage drop across each one is dependant upon
the load that each one draws. In other words, if you had a light load in series with a heavy load, the voltage drop would become
unbalanced. For instance, you could see 150 VAC across one of the appliances and 90 VAC across the other. This is bad electrical
karma.
If the wiring from the generator is as you believe it to be (i.e. no neutral), you have a very hazardous condition with the potential to subject motors, lights, computers, TVs, etc to voltages well outside their design specs . I'm surprised you haven't seen flickering lights, refrigerator motors groaning as they start and other anomalous conditions. My advice to you is to put the generator testing with your house on hold until you can get a gen head with a neutral for 120/240 VAC operation.
Terry