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Surviving after the Hurricane
Having been in the path of 5 Hurricanes in 4 years (Bertha, Fran, Bonnie, Dennis & Floyd), we have learned a little about the lifestyle after a hurricane has hit!
For many people, the worst part is living without electricity for days on end. This page will show you an effective way to connect a generator to your house to supply most of your needs.
First, you must understand the layout of your outside power meter.
Remove the front panel surrounding the glass globe.
Attention: Use Extreme Caution!
Now grab the glass globe and pull it out!
At first glance this is what you see.
Look Closer and you will notice 3 wires coming from the top. These will be the power lines from the electric company.
You want to connect your generator’s 220 volt receptacle to the circuitry of your house.
Use Extreme Caution!
Start with a heavy 10 gauge copper wire. Skin the top outside layer back 18 inches on one end. Now skin back about 1 inch of the plastic shell around the wire to expose the copper.
Attach the other end to a male plug that fits into your generator’s 220 volt receptacle.
The other end connect the ground wire (the wire that has no plastic shell around it) to the top ground connection.
Brown wire is ground wire
Blue wires represent the black and white wires.
Use Extreme Caution!
The black and white wires connect to the two bottom connections that connect to your house.
If the generator bogs down hard and the reset buttons pop out, then your a/c might be attempting to come on and overloading the system. Go to the fuse box and flip it to the off position and try again.
With the appropriate generator you will be able to cook with one eye on the stove and refrigerate foods, use overhead lights, play the TV, radio or computer.
We suggest a 5,000 watt generator if possible. If your generator is a lower wattage you may be limited in the cooking but hot showers are possible.