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jdg678

Questions on installing a standby generator

jdg678
13 years ago

Hello everyone,

Allow me to explain what I am planning to do so that my questions make sense.

I am planning the instal of a 12Kw standby generator. It will sit roughly 40 away from where it will be tied to the house panel through a Ronk DPDT transfer switch. My feed wires from the generator will be 6 Ga triple rated THHN/THWN-2/MTW. 3 appropriately colored conductors along with a bare copper 6 Ga ground. I will be running this underground through 2" sch 80 PVC conduit. Overkill on the conduit, but given the tiny price difference what the hey.

My first question.

I also plan to have a 15 amp (I will use 12 Ga triple rated THHN) line run from the breaker panel to a single outlet inside of the generator enclosure. I would assume that using the 6 Ga ground that will be tied to the ground inside the house at the panel would be acceptable to ground this circuit? Or would I need to run a seperate ground to meet code?

Second question.

Given that the 15 amp circuit I just described above will be live all of the time, would there be any reason that it would need to be isolated from the 6 Ga wires? I will run it and a dedicated ground through a seperate conduit if needed, but thought I would not be even close to fill capacity on the 2" PVC.

Third question.

I am also running an additional 1" schedule 80 PVC conduit for engine control and battery maintainer wires. Because these wires will all be only 12 VDC and be dedicated to only engine systems and not tied into the 120 VAC wiring, would it also need to meet code as far as color? I ask this because it would be a lot more convienent to purchase a 500' roll of wire to run these circuits instead of 10 50' lengths of wire.

My fourth and final question.

This may not be the appropriate forum, but I am willing to bet someone here knows the answer.

This genset is natural gas fueled. My question pertains the the trace wire I plan to bury along with the 1" CTS PE pipe I am going to run to feed it.

I plan to have 2 "T's" in the pipe. One to run a feed for the potential future use of a natural gas fired heater for a hot tub we have planned on down the road, and a feed for an outdoor kitchen i also have planned down the road.

Do I need to run dedicated lengths of tracer wire from the connection point of the pipe to the termination point of my pipes, I.E., 3 seperate lengths of wire, or is it permuissible (and practical) to have spliced connections to in effect only have 1 wire? Given the cost of quality direct burial splices, it may actualy be cheaper to just run three seperate wires. I have not done the math on that yet.

For those that may wonder, I have been in touch with the utility companies and the local zoning department to determine if I can do the install myself. Basicly as long as I get the appropriate permit and have it inspected, I'm good.

Anyway, thanks for bearing with me and thanks in advance.

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