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Re: Electrical power question

To: "Preston Smith" <prbasmith@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Electrical power question
From: paul.mele@usermail.com
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 09:45:48 -0700 (MST)
Hi Prestion:

Unfortunately, you can't make something for nothing with your proposal,
anymore than 5 faucets with 1 gal / min flow at 40 psi, all coming from
the same pipe/ well, can produce 5 gal/ min at 40 psi if the well is only
rated for 2 gal/ min at 40 psi.

Simple numbers for the generator:
5500 Watts= 220V at 25A continuous load.  (Surges for start-up are a
second rating...)

Just as with the hose analogy, you could put a 2-inch fire hose outlet on
your house, but you'll only get the max flow that the well can deliver,
(minus the losses in the connecting pipe-ware).  With the Gen, a 50Amp
outlet and breaker LIMIT the flow thru that circuit (to prevent
overheating the connecting wires and plug/socket), put can't put out more
than the supply provides.

for your application, 220V at 50A (Full Load) means 50*220 VA (Volt-Amps,
equiv to WATTS for this discussion) = 11,000 watts, or 11 KW.  You need 2
generators, or one new big-boy.... and, no , you couldn't connect the 2 to
each other, they'd need to feed separate electrical halves of your house.

hope this helps in your project

Paul


>
> Good Day Shop Talkers!
>
> I have a 5.5 kw Onan generator on my motorhome which makes its output
> available for use via a 20 amp and 30 amp circuit.
>
> Is there a means of ganging these two outputs together so that I can
> feed a single nominal 50 amp circuit to an authorized switch panel which
> would power  selective circuits when the commercial power is interrupted?
>
> Thanks
>
> Preston




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