Ok, here is the ONLY problem I am running into with this extension cord construction. They told me I needed to run 6/3 4 wire cable to handle the 50amp welder with ground. I have a welder outlet box that of course fits 3 plug. ON THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE PACKAGE it says..."plug Green/ground into screw labeled GR, plug White into SILVER SCREW labeled W, plug Red and Black into the two remaining terminals" I have a GR label, I have 2 gold screws for black and red but I have NO SILVER SCREW and there is NOTHING LABELED "W" on this. The problem I am running into is this. Where does the White wire plug into on this outlet? Lowes personnel were idiots and knew little to nothing at all so I went to homedepot. I figured I needed to buy a 4 plong outlet for the 4 wire that was already running from the breaker anyway because it only had a 3 wire on it and the ground wire wasn't even attached. Home Depot guys said that in a normal 200amp service panel, the white and ground both attach to the bus bar, this is true, I've never had a problem with service panels. I took them to the exact welder and the plug that I had and they didn't know for sure on any of it but said YES it needed a ground and YES I did need a 4 wire 6/3 cable just as the guys at Lowes stated. They said they thought white may plug in with the ground because it is a neutral wire anyway but would not give me advise to confirm this, instead said I should contact Lincoln and ask them, which I did just now email them the question. Anyone have an idea where WHITE might plug into on this outlet? I know I'm not going insane because the instructions point blank say to connect white to W/silver screw which where is none. Thanks guys!

We're a ways off the road, so they had to put a transformer on our property. There were some strange requirements. First, the neighbor had to sign a release so that they could run the underground cable from the pole (on their land) over to our land. Luckily, our neighbors are great, and it was just a formality. I did wonder what happens if the neighbor doesn't cooperate, though. Second, we are close to the limit for distance from the pole, both the distance from the pole to the transformer, and from the transformer to the house. Again- What happens if the house is farther away? We're only about 400' away. The electrical code has a strange (IMHO) rule about the type of meter because the interior panel isn't directly in line with the meter. The meter has to be 5-1/2 feet off the ground, which would have put our panel halfway between floors, so we had to buy a meter with a separate disconnect. That makes our interior panel a sub-panel, so it has to have a separate ground and neutral, which makes it more complicated and messier than panels that combine the neutral and ground. All this is because the interior panel is offset about 3' from the meter, rather than directly in line. I'm also not crazy about the fact that a bad guy or prankster could shut off the power to the house from outside. I don't think it's legal to padlock it, but I should find out. As for the water- I know that water and electric can't be in the same hole, but I don't know what the rules are as far as how far apart they must be. We brought both into the house on the same corner, but they are about 8' apart. I put a PVC sleeve through the concrete wall for each utility. Once the pipe and wiring was installed, I foamed the remaining space. The water enters underground, of course. I like having the utilities in the same general area of the basement. If I ever finish off the basement, it would be easy to create a mechanical room with everything in one room. Make sure you plan out where your water heater will go, unless you go tankless. I wanted to have mine in the middle somewhere, but then I wouldn't have had a reasonable way to drain it, which is a requirement. Mine had to have a pan with a drain line, and a safety pressure relief valve with a separate drain line.

As to why I want this information: 1. I was orally bullied by my electric power company into installing a smart meter socket. The Illinois Commerce Commission gave the power company police authority with the ability to make fines per a vaguely worded order in Docket 13-0552, https://skyvisionsolutions.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/icc-xxx-final-order-on-refusals-document-368693.pdf . I am paying a monthly fine. 2. The power company ignored a letter asking for clarification about what they wanted me to do. 3. I got estimates from electricians who disagreed about what had to be done. 4. I hired an electrician who installed a smart meter socket and new riser on the outside of my garage but did this without a permit. This was last March. 5. The power company refuses to install a smart meter until I get a permit from my town and continues to fine me. Note, the permit is necessary but not sufficient. Also, since I am getting unmetered electricity through shunts placed inside the meter socket by the power company, they are billing me for estimated power consumptions 24% higher than the previous year. 6. My town is sympathetic and there will be no fine, but, my Town wants me to hire an electrician to do an inspection of the work done and submit a notarized written report to obtain a permit. 7. Every electrician who gives me an estimate wants to tag on thousands of dollars in additional alterations but they all disagree about what needs to be done. And, they do this by using high pressure sales tactics. I need this information to weed out the BS electricians. For your entertainment, this is the work: http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/PowerLineConnection.jpg http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/Riser1.jpg http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/meter2.jpg http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/SmartMeterSocket.jpg http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/MainBox.jpg My attitude is that any social system that forces me to pay thousands of dollars to connect a simple four terminal electrical device, and submit me to the psychological stress that I have endured, is morally very corrupt. And, I mean go to Hell in a hand basket corrupt.

dvd94,I'd like to tell you how I've prepared for an emergency due to a power outage. It gets very cold here in Minnesota so my primary concerns are food, water and heat if the power goes out in the winter. Secondary concern is electricity basically to get water from my well and keep the freezer/refrigerators going. ( I also have bottled water on hand). For heat I installed a nice wood burning stove at a time (1999). I no longer use the wood burner but can if I needed it in an emergency. But you don't have a wood stove so read on. I also have a natural gas space heater in storage. If I ever need to use it I'll connect it to a gas valve I installed in the house to keep from freezing as long as the gas still flows. For food I always keep a well stocked pantry (at least a 6 month supply) but my water comes from a well so I still need electricity. For electricity I have 3.5Kiliwatt gas powered Generac generator and I always keep 40 gallons of gas on hand. I rotate the gas ever 6 months and works good with no issues over the past 20 years. 3.5KW's works good to run the well, freezer/frig, a TV and PC along with a few LED lights, anything more and I'm pushing it. I've had to turn to the generator 4 or 5 times in the past (thankfully never in the winter) and what I learned over the last 20 years is not to advertise your resources, it's not wise. The times I ran the generator the neighbors would all come over and stare at the generator and each would finally ask to use it. What could I say? I agreed to each one when I got my refrigeration down to temperature. Each time after the outage I told each of the neighbors they really should buy a back up generator but no one ever did. After a long outage 5 years ago it was the last straw! I had 5 neighbors staring at my generator and all wanted to take it home and they began arguing who would get it first. OMG! The power was out 16 hours with just one getting to use my generator before the lights came back on, and I again reminded them all to think about buying a generator. I put the generator in a detached building and fed wires to the house underground. It's barley audible from the outside and out of sight. We had one short outage since then, I fired up the generator and left the lights off, not long after I could here a neighbor telling his wife I "don't see any lights on next door or hear his generator". Some people never learn and none to this day have yet to buy a generator, not one! I wouldn't turn someone away that was cold or hungry but decided not to advertise I have a generator for emergencies, it could cause problems I just don't want to deal with and my resources are limited. Think about this and the number of unprepared neighbors living around you that may want your resources to take home, it's sad but true.