[tubebender]

I bought a like new 1,000 watt Honda Generator last week for $450 for short duration power outages which we get each winter. I plan to buy a 5,000 watt unit before we have the big earthquake or worse yet, a ice storm due to global swarming and have a switch installed at the meter. Someone told me they just have a double male extension cord and plug it into the dryer outlet and they turn the main circuit breaker off so they don't feedback into the system and fry a lineman or two...

[NYTexan]

Sounds like a good plan. You will need an external connection point to plug yer generator into the house.

I'd avoid the suicide cord tho, unless yer really carefull.
And that method is only practical if ya have a 220 volt dryer. Otherwise only half of the electric panel will be fed.

Since most generators are tuned to provide 125 volts of quasi electricity ya have ta be carefull of usage and application. Most electronic devices aint too keen on that waveform unless they use an AC adapter. A microwave oven will groan unless most of the big stuff is off.

A 5K watt generator will provide a max of 40 amps of power. So check the rating tags on yer appliances and add up the essentials. My suggestion is not to exceed 75% of capacity.

Never run the generator in an attached garage and never in the rain unless it's covered with an old card table or such.

Hope this helps!