Old phart needs advice

[bandmiller2]

If you've been reading, I'am setting up a standby system with a ST-1 Lister and ST-10 gen.Now I must wire it into the house,old house still have fuses.I'am not a doomsdayer or off gridder,just want to run circulators for my outside boiler,freezer,refrig and a light or two.What I was thinking of is runing wires seperate from the grid and install  outlets beside appliances.I could pre-ballance the load and in an outage start gen. and plug loads in as needed,when the lights come back on just switch plugs back.Parish the thought but if EMF ravenges the grid I'am not hooked up to miles of wires.Any better [afordable] ideas. Thanks Frank C.

[dieselgman]

Frank,

I can see the logic and beauty of a very simple secondary wiring system such as you describe. I do not see any EMP protection as a result, but it certainly meets the KISS principle.

In remote homestead applications, I have seen a lot of extension cords running things. Not beautiful, sometimes not to safety codes, but almost always effective and easily repaired or replaced as the need might arise.

On the other hand, most of us engineering types prefer to tinker and fancy things up a bit... you should see some of the automatic switching systems in use at some of our installations!

dieselgman

[bandmiller2]

I hear you Gary,with alot of the folks here getting there is the fun,once the tree house is built they have nothing to do and no challenges.Was just in the shop found an old HD compressor base to mount things on.That Dang bell housing thats below the mounting bolt surface makes it harder, you ether have to space the engine up or cut out where it mounts.Enjoy your weekend mate.Frank C.

[dieselgman]

The ST1 base is normally mounted up off the deck just a bit...using either the Lister cast iron mounts or something custom is very easy. We use rubber mounts for vibration isolation on most of ours.

dieselgman

[BruceM]

Seems easier to just put in a power transfer switch, leaving your existing wiring alone.

As for EMI on the power co. line (aka "dirty power")- it is very rare that it would be worse than your generator power.

As for EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) from a high altitude nuclear detonation or natural Sun event, anything with solid state electronics and not specifically shielded and filtered from EMP will be fried from the brief surge of over-voltage, if connected to an unshielded wire of a few feet or more.  So a special effort would be needed to insure that you have backup supplies for essential gear, and they should be stored without cords in a metal enclosure or just foil wrapped.

[carlb23]

+1 on what Bruce said

[LowGear]

One old phart to another,

I like simple.  I like not screwing around with the house wiring so do you need a permit(?) to be legal and maintain your insurance.

Shop around the switching systems that redirect a few of your panel circuits from the power company to you at your request.  Yes, I'm betting a permit should be done.  But if your hobby center changes you can just go inside the panel and re-wire which circuits are effected by the switch, you maintain breaker protection (Hey, some of them do work as indicated) and you can always modify the program by throwing a breaker. 

You wouldn't believe the crap the county of Hawaii wants for this simple modification.  A diesel storage permit (inspection required) among many - phuck me!  I'd recommend talking to a local shop or two and find out what the approaches are and how much they cost in your neck of the woods.

Casey

[bandmiller2]

I  have found cheap hockey pucks to make very good engine and generator mounts.Just drill a bolt hole, their durable and not bouncy.As far as EMP I plan on a sheet metal shed grounded with wires in metal conduit or at least thats the plan,should that help Bruce, or am I wasting my time.?? Thanks Frank C.

[deeiche]

I  have found cheap hockey pucks to make very good engine and generator mounts.Just drill a bolt hole, their durable and not bouncy.As far as EMP I plan on a sheet metal shed grounded with wires in metal conduit or at least thats the plan,should that help Bruce, or am I wasting my time.?? Thanks Frank C.

you can't have ANY gaps or RF can get through.

here is a good read, Engineering and Design      ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE (EMP) AND TEMPEST PROTECTION FOR FACILITIES

[BruceM]

Wires in EMT, IMC or Rigid conduit  with compression fittings are good, but anywhere that wire  leads to or connects to where it would be unshielded for a few feet means all your shielding was for nothing.  Unless you really understand EMC and EMP design issues, it is pointless to attempt it. Likewise shield room construction is not a place for half hearted measures.  Don't waste your time and money unless you are prepared to fully educate yourself on how to do it right. A metal shed is NOT a shield room.

Protecting some unconnected essential spares is far easier and less technical.  A simple 1 mil aluminum foil wrapped cardboard or plastic box will suffice. Lap all seams well, tape with foil tape. Slap on a label.

My new off grid home is in fact constructed as a -60dB shield room for microwave reduction, including filtered power and all other signals on glass or plastic fiber.  But it is not designed for high altitude EMP and there are externally connected electronics that would certainly be fried.  It's just too much extra work and expense for EMP and I'm too disabled to be survivalist.  I leave that to the young and healthy.

[bandmiller2]

Thanks Bruce,never realized how complex EMP shielding is,will probibly continue FDH [fat,dumb,and happy] and let the chips fall where they may. Put some spare bridge diodes in a metal tool box. Frank C.

[BruceM]

An unconnected bridge diode would not be at risk from EMP. The pulse induced voltage would be below the rated voltage of the bridge because the internal connections are too short.