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This is great to hear. I am most likely going to unbond my generator as well and then buy a bonding plug when not connected to my house
How to disconnect neutral from the frame of Firman T07571 Tri-fuel purchased at Costco
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Thank you Tom, amazing how you had time to do this after beating the cowboys.
Do you or anyone else on this thread have a recommendation for a NG bonding plug?
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Just find a cheap replacement plug. It doesn't matter what kind really. Take the cover off of the plug and install a small piece of copper wire (size #8 would be fine) between where the neutral and ground wires would go. Put the cover back on and you have a bonded plug. Or you could order one from HERE.
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There are several things being discussed in this thread, so to which "problem" are you referring?
I know, ask a dumb question and... But I'm talking about the problem of double grounded neutral. I am basically grasping at straws, as a last ditch effort, before facing the fact that I am probably going to have to switch the neutral wires in my box. I am not confident about separating Neutral from the ground on the T07571 via what I can gather from the problems encountered in this thread. I tried the easy option of just disconnecting the ground wire from the frame. Starter motor did not work and throttle control was lost... Looks like just about everything in this GEN is grounded to the frame. So... any suggestion(s) you might have would be appreciated.
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Well, I wish I had a direct answer to your question about whether or not to disconnect the bond. It seems that some people have done it without problems (such as post #102) while others had issues. So, if you disconnect it and the rectifier lets out smoke, then call Firman and have them ship a new one to you on their dime. It is ridiculous that you cannot break the N-G bond on a portable gen without causing a problem.
I can tell you that a ground rod is not the answer...if that helps.
Adding my experience with Firman T07571. Had a interlock solution installed by a licensed electrician. I asked the electrician whether I should break the bond on my generator and he said no he did not recommend that. We didn't get into a lengthy discussion but the gist was that it wasn't necessary. I am not suggesting or an advocate of one or the other. Anyway Ida hit and my power was out for a week. I ran the T07571 on NG for the entire week powering a max of around 4k watts of appliances. Most notable was a room AC, microwave, toaster oven and others (not all at the same time). I had zero issues.
However I have always felt like breaking the bond was a better choice but with reading what DL41 experienced I never wanted to risk that since it ran fine with the bond. Now I am considering using the bonding plug as a solution as I always perform my maintenance runs disconnected from the house and would use the bonding plug for those runs.
One question on the plug, does it matter whether you use it on a 120 GFCI protected outlet?
However I have always felt like breaking the bond was a better choice but with reading what DL41 experienced I never wanted to risk that since it ran fine with the bond. Now I am considering using the bonding plug as a solution as I always perform my maintenance runs disconnected from the house and would use the bonding plug for those runs.
One question on the plug, does it matter whether you use it on a 120 GFCI protected outlet?
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Electricians don't always understand how to install a portable generator to a house panel. Much of that is due to all the confusing code changes that have been made over the years...so not necessarily their fault.
The N-G bond at the gen must be broken when connecting it to a house panel where the N-G bond already occurs. Otherwise you have objectionable current on the ground wire. The exception would be if you install a disconnect that breaks the neutral wire. The above video (post #108) covers all of that. Also, see this video:
No. The N-G bond is reestablished for the gen when connected to the house panel. Also, GFCI outlets work without a ground wire (that sounds weird, but Google it).
Thank you! All things considered, I think I am just going to do it the way I usually do, the hard way. It will take time and effort but if I switch the neutral in the service box at least I will be able to finally put this behind me once and for all. Next time I will do my research before rather than after I do a project. ha ha, It is on my bucket list anyway.
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