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Portable Generator House Backup Grounding
All current from the generator must return to the generator. If you do not have a grounded (neutral) conductor from the generator to the house you will have an open neutral and will damage the household electrical equipment.
My backup generators are usually stored in the shed until I need emergency power, then one or both are usually wheeled to their operating location as required. As such, I have run a permanent 10ga solid copper wire from my service entrance ground to that location. Once I move a generator into place, the ground wire's already there waiting for hookup. When I run them both simultaneously, I simply bond them together with another piece of 10ga BC.
//greg//
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Portable Generator House Backup Grounding
Asking the contractor is probably best, because the answer is in both my response and in the article you cited - which tells me you don't quite grasp either. So let me summarize by combining the two; start by determining which of the two types of transfer switches you have. One type transfers neutral. The other type doesn't. If you've got the former, it satisfies the "all current must return to the generator" requirement. If it doesn't, you need to bond the generator housing to your structure common ground.
Unless you're going to drive it in more than 150' linear feet from the house ground, don't waste your money on a new ground rod (supplemental electrode) just for the generator. Code requires that supplemental electrodes be bonded to the common ground anyway. You can do that with the 10ga solid copper I originally mentioned. If you drive in another rod within 150' of the common, you risk introducing ground loop interference. Your electronics won't like that.
//greg//
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Portable Generator House Backup Grounding
It never hurts to have an electrical tester around. But you really need to get the owner manual/installation manual/spec sheet on your transfer box. Given no history of electrical casualties, you may have the type that returns neutral to the generator. But it would be reassuring to know for sure.
//greg//
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Portable Generator House Backup Grounding
In that case, I don't see a neutral/fault return path to the generator. In addition to the mismatched ground potential I described earlier, you also risk isolating the generator circuit breakers. I still recommend you follow my original advice; bond the generator housing to the residential common ground (typically under the electric meter).
//greg//
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Portable Generator House Backup Grounding
Here's a power company brochure on the subject Hal. The separate housing ground I recommended is illustrated in the diagram
//greg//
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