Jon Radder said:Good advice. Not to mention you could possibly blow out every appliance in your house and the generator too, when the power gets restored.
I don't have a transfer switch set up, I just run extension cords from the Gen to the freezer and fridge. If cable is up I can also run the TV and computer from it. The last few storms I have just about got it set up when the power came back on :) What ever you do [b]DO NOT[/b] make up a cable to feed your whole house without having a transfer switch installed. You can kill electrical linemen from the back-feed into their system.
Thanks guys. I ordered a 5500 watt generator today it was in stock.shipping from Il. today. Im currently using a 3500 watt and works great. The trick is shut the power circuit off plug generator into the dryer outlet. Then it feeds everything. So for works great. Thanks to my train friend for lending me the generator. It powers well pump two fridges and lights.
Shawn - What you are doing is very dangerous, for you and the power & tree crews. Unless you have a professionally installed transfer switch, your main shut-off does not completely isolate your house from the grid, it only lifts one side of the circuit. Depending on how that dryer plug is wired you could be easily feeding voltage back into the grid.
Jon thanks thats good advice to know.
Jon Radder said:Popping the main circuit breaker out would isolate the house from the feed, but that's a dangerous proposition too, unless you knew what you were doing. Your best bet at this point is to just run extensions cords to the appliances you want working, that way you'll know when the power comes back on.
Shawn - What you are doing is very dangerous, for you and the power & tree crews. Unless you have a professionally installed transfer switch, your main shut-off does not completely isolate your house from the grid, it only lifts one side of the circuit. Depending on how that dryer plug is wired you could be easily feeding voltage back into the grid.
Thanks for the heads up guys.
We put in a separate feeder line from the garage to the basement, with a series of outlets on it. In the basement, by the furnace, I put a 110 volt outlet on this line and right next to it, an outlet for the house power. With the power feed for the furnace on a 110 volt plug and we can power up the generator outside of the garage (never inside), unplug the furnace from the house circuits, plug it in to the generator circuit and the freezer into generator circuit and keep the house warm, since the furnace runs on natural gas. Totally separate from the city utilities and yet always at the ready. We have a couple of Honda 2000 generators.
I spoke with the electric co. today and ask about it. They stated that as long as the breaker is off it is ok to feed the generator to the dryer plug. I also spoke with the guys doing the electric lines and they said thats how they use there generators as well. The key is to turn the breaker off. As soon as things settle down I plan on having someone come in and hook up a plug on the outside with the switch. Doing it this way is the only way to get water since have a well with a pump.
Hummmm. When will the fireworks start?
I’ll bring a chair and some popcorn. 
OK. I do know here that it is illegal to connect without a transfer switch. They don’t call that cord that goes between the dryer plug and the genny a suicide cord for nothing. Be careful.
Don’t forget to unplug the genny before switching back to commercial power when it comes on. I hear that if you don’t, the generator will run in reverse and produce gasoline for your car.
Having a cord coming from the genny with a live male end at 220 volts is not good. 
We just got home (northeast Ohio) this afternoon after being stranded in Vermont for three days on a 5 mile stretch of road that was isolated by a total washout at one end and a bridge collapse at the other. The first day was without power, the next two we had power but no cell or internet service. We were lucky, we had enough food on hand in our community to take care of everyone. But some folks actually had to hike about 10 miles into Rutland to buy baby formula and medicine.
It is a mess up there. Roads and bridges are washed out everywhere and major flooding in many towns. There are still some communities with no utilities and no way in or out - completely isolated. The National Guard is making airdrops of food and water in some cases. Miraculously there have only been a couple fatalities. I’m surprised that there isn’t more media coverage about the problems in that area.
We were stranded at the foot of Mt. Killington along with almost a thousand other tourists. The local emergency response folks were able to clear out/construct a makeshift road using passable existing roads and numerous bypasses that allowed us to form a convoy and slowly drive about 40 miles to an interstate highway (I-87).
Again, my wife and are very, very lucky . We had a few scary hours on Sunday, at the height of the storm, driving on those mountain roads as the flood waters came flowing down across and along the roads. Overall this was just an inconvenience for us - but there are still thousands of people back there who are having a really terrible time of it right now.
I agree i just make sure once gen is off and breaker off i unplug both ends. Then a flip breaker on to see if power is back if not breaker goes off and i replug dryer then gen. Im also using a very heavy cord. Its like anything just have to be carefull and triple check everything. I am getting an est. on getting it done the correct way.
yep Shawn…sounds like you know what is going on…when you fire up the genny.
Well im still alive going on day number 7. I called power co. and the lady said just have a little more patience. Really. My loaner generator is acting up (something with the idle/throttle thingy. I tried playing with the screws to adjust but no luck) Wish Rooster lived by me so he can fix it for me. I hope the one I ordered comes in today. Wife and kids had enough and are staying with her parents. If I didnt have to work I would be joining her. Ugh
Hang in there Shawn. I know it can be frustrating. The power crews just showed up in my little neighborhood yesterday to fix the few outages here. I’m pretty sure they are getting close to you too.
Good news I am back on the grid. Power came back around 4PM today. Now we just have to restock the fridge, do laundry ect…
Shawn said:You mean you weren't down at the flooded crick pounding your skivvies on the rocks? Where is that pioneering spirit? Tsk tsk.
..., do laundry etc....
But ain’t modern appliances much, much more convenient … when the power’s on 