Worst Electrical Mistake You Can Make - Backfeeding Generators 

Thanks for watching please LIKE & SUBSCRIBE - Electric safety isn't exciting but neither is dying so please pay attention. Safe Generator Plug: amzn.to/36azVKo

Gotta be honest, I did this in 2007 during the massive ice storm that hit the Pacific Northwest. We were out of power for over a week that time. The storm actually knocked down one of the high voltage towers that comes into town, so the power outage was expected to be prolonged. Some areas didn't get it back for 12 days. That said, I did throw my main, and actually disconnected some circuits inside my panel so I could power some 240 directly like my well pump. Water was cold, but at least it was running. Local public power was super cool about it when they started coming around to reconnect lines. They did a house to house inspecting panels because they knew people had done what they needed to. They actually quickly rewired the few things I had modified. Now I have a proper generator panel in the works. As much as I know how to do it safely, I don't ever want to have to do it again.

I used to remove trees from power lines and this was one of the biggest dangers. One time I was dragging some branches and noticed that the dead line was still sparking, turned out that the local police had hooked a generator up to traffic light but didn't disconnect it from the grid. When this happens the voltage gets stepped up to the full distribution voltage.

There is another risk with back feeding that you didn’t cover, which is reversed polarity. When I was a teenager, I was building a log cabin in the woods, and while I had help from others for heavy stuff like the roof, and complicated stuff like the kitchen cabinets, I was on my own for the electrical wiring. To make my life easier during construction (before the cabin got hooked to the electric grid) I ran a double-male-ended extension cord from my parents’ trailer to one of the outlets in the cabin, and from there it went into the service panel and to the rest of the cabin, allowing me to turn on lights and run power tools. Pretty much immediately after I plugged it it, I noticed I was getting shocks whenever I touched ground screws. That puzzled me, so I got a volt meter and saw 120v between neutral and ground, which made no sense to me at all. So I walked back to the trailer to investigate, and as soon as I opened the door I saw smoke coming from the outlet with the extension cord plugged in. I grabbed a fire extinguisher and unplugged the cord, extinguished the fire, and investigated, and this is what had happened: the trailer, built in 1970, used aluminum wiring, and that particular outlet had been wired backwards (in other words, despite being a grounded outlet, the hot and neutral wires were reversed). So, hot from the trailer’s service panel was going to the neutral on the outlet, the neutral on the extension cord, and (since I’d done my wiring correctly) the neutral bus bar on the cabin service panel, which was bonded to the ground bus bar, which was grounded by a ground rod right outside. The distance from the trailer service panel ground rod to the cabin service panel ground rod was roughly 200 feet (60m) so there was enough resistance that the breaker wasn’t tripping, but the oxidized aluminum wiring in the trailer outlet was none the less overheating, and had I checked 2 minutes later I likely wouldn’t have been able to stop the fire. Ever since then I never trust unknown wiring to be correct, and I always check polarization before I plug in anything that might care about polarity. I have a handy little plug-in circuit tester, shows open neutral, open ground, open hot, and reversed polarity, perfect for a quick reassurance that all is as it should be.

I'm a line clearance tree trimmer and, while not from my yard, we've lost a few guys to backfeed. It's a series topic, glad to see good video addressing it.

This happened in my city, there is a meat market with a backup generator and some utility workers had to repair an underground power line nearby, they shut down power in the area after notifying everyone and someone in the meat market turned on the generator but forgot to disconnect it from the main power line, well when they went to fix the line two workers were in the trench they dug to get to the line and one died instantly and the other died later in the hospital.

When I was a kid, we lived in an area where power outages were frequent. When our house was built, my parents had a hardwired cord for a generator put in with an interlock. The generator wasn't anywhere near powerful enough to run the whole house, so we had essential circuits (Well pump, refrigerator, etc.) marked with some whiteout on the breaker handles. I have many memories of being on "Generator and breaker duty".

Thank you for this. I work in the trades and am pretty handy guy & I don't like messing with electricity. Back when I was a young man I worked as a paramedic and in 15 years I saw more than a few DIYers electrocute themselves. This may not be exciting but it is necessary knowledge.

Something that took me a while to understand is that when you backfeed your panel and power goes out onto your house service, you're not just sending out 120v or 240v. As soon as your power hits the transformer that powers your house that voltage is stepped up to thousands of volts. That's important when you don't have power because the primary voltage line that feeds your transformer is broken and laying across your neighbor's metal fence.

Often it is necessary to specify that something is illegal BECAUSE it is unsafe, in that regard thank you for elaborating the indirect hazards. Having worked at a hardware store it was in our training video that the most common desire for these stupid cords is when someone put their Christmas lights up in the wrong direction. In Virginia and hopefully every other state it is illegal to help someone make one of these things. I have no idea how any company is getting away with selling them.

I used to work for Lowes. A customer asked me if we carried these cables and I said we don't because they are illegal. Two weeks later he was in the store. He told me he made his own cable and used it to connect his generator to his house. When the mains power came back on, it shorted out his main panel and set his house on fire. His insurance refused to cover the damage because he used an illegal item to power his house.

Quite awhile ago I had to hook up my generator safely to my home while safeguarding against backfeeding rather than running a heavy extension cord to critical devices. Long story short. I designed a mechanical interlock that looked essentially the same as what is shown in this video. I was ready to fabricate it which wasn’t a big project. Right about that time, while looking up some electrical supplies to purchase, I came across this very same interlock, patented, and offered in various configurations depending on the panel make. It looked exactly the same but prettier! Damn! A great idea too late. I shared my story with the interlock company and they replied that they get the same emails from others who have had the same situation. Har!

I have an interlock for my generator. It was maybe $150 in parts and took my Father and I only an hour or so to put in. My Father is a licensed electrician. It really is the cheapest way to safely hook a generator to your house.

I worked at a hardware store when I was young and we were expressly forbidden from making male to male cables for customers. And we had at least 2-3 requests for them a week.

This is actually a pretty informative video. a few years ago, my parents disconnected the family cabin from the power grid. This was mostly because we only went once or twice a year, but there was a monthly fee that added up. There was also a flat cost to reconnect to the grid. Instead, my dad would use a double male plug to tap into the neighbor's power, with their permission. It was just for lights and a couple outlets, but things could have gone very wrong. Luckily, they managed to sell the place, so it'll be someone else's problem.

Thanks for pointing this out and showing safe, legal alternatives. In my country it's super easy to make such a cable at home because our plugs are easy to install on any cable and sold at any old hardware store but it's kinda crazy that there's no regulation on the manufactured cables enabling people to buy these deadly cables off the shelf.

many years ago, my dad set up the house to be backfed by a generator, but the solution he used was even worse than a double-male cable. He installed a cable with a male end and a permanently-wired end. It's energized any time we have grid power. When we aren't using a generator, the male end is kept in a locking receptacle which is installed but not wired to anything -- to give some degree of safety. Creating a safe installation would've required digging a trench to run an underground cable. At the time my dad set up the generator, we probably could've afforded to do that. By the time I was old enough to realize the setup was a major problem, that wasn't the case anymore. We wouldn't exactly die overnight without power, but with how long and frequent power outages are here, we would experience significant hardship if we dismantled the setup. Being able to fix this became farther off when my dad left the family and thus wasn't helping pay for things, and work-from-home means that our livelihood has become dependent on the generator. A family member has recently started dating a contractor who has been very willing to help with other issues, so I'm hoping we might be closer to getting a safe setup. This video has also reminded me to try again to find ways to get out of the need for the underground cable -- since that's the primary barrier.

One of the weirdest dreams I had as a child was one where I saw a backfeeding cable like that, albeit fitted with Type G plugs instead of the Type B plugs you showed as I grew up living in Singapore. This video finally helped me decode and put that strange dream to rest! (RU-vid recommended this video to me)

Thanks for the PSA. Just my situation and intended for story purposes only. Made my own cable many years ago. Had a lil' 3500 watt pull start generator. Lost power for 12 days during a NE ice storm ~2008. Shut off all the breakers and the Main 200amp. Back fed a 120v outlet that was on the same phase as the Boiler and only turned on breakers needed on that phase NOBODY is going to touch the electrical panel but ME. I even put electrical tape over the main so I would have to think twice. But when this power outage situation happens, trust me this is all you think about. They don't sell these cables because some ppl are stupid. Sorry can't go to the neighbors house because they don't have power either or drive anywhere because the roads are closed. 💀

We had a 30amp breaker wired to ours, and we would install it in the main box when the power went out. With this setup, after killing the main breaker, we could power one bus bar at a time, but with a smaller generator and a basic breaker, we could run the lights and fridge, water pump (no hot water though) and such, while using kerosene heaters in winter when the power was most likely to go out from ice and snow/wind causing treefalls. We simply made 100% sure to always kill the mains before throwing the switch from the genset.

About 10 years ago, during the summer of 2012, a derécho blew through our town and knocked out our power for over 16 days. We had no air conditioning or running water... during one of the worst July heatwaves in our history. We lived out in the rural countryside, so we were pretty low priority for the electric company. Generators and camping supplies, even distilled water were all sold out. Luckily, this was a tight-knit southern community, and one of my dad's mechanic buddies loaned us his portable Honda generator, with enough horsepower to run our essential appliances. He let us borrow his pre-made power cable and explained to us how he made it, and step-by-step how to hook it up to our power system. And it saved us.

i was living in a rented house and had to use a "suicide cord" a few times over the years during extended power outages because the owner of the house refused to have an interlock or transfer switch installed, and i wasn't going to live without any power for more than 2-3 days. it works if you know what you are doing but yes, for a typical person who does not know what they are doing it's a bad idea. still, in an emergency situation if i had to do it again, i would. fwiw i work as an industrial maintenance technician so i carry electrical lockout devices with me in my tool bag so i have the ability to put a padlock on any circuit breaker if i need to.

I Agree with the Fact, that Most People Have Lost their COMMON SENSE over the Years. Those People would be Very wise to follow your Advice. For the People left on the Planet that Still Have COMMON SENSE, it’s Perfectly Safe to Back-feed your Home, with using the Breaker Lock Suggested at the End of the Video.

I have an interlock system on my main panel. I highly recommend it. It’s is a lot easier to install and use than putting in a transfer switch.

Thank you. I was actually pondering over this kind of thing and wondering how I could keep the electricity from going out of the home's circuits. Even though it is a BASIC premiss, I didn't think about shutting down the main breaker. It makes total sense now, but it just didn't occur to me as I was casually mulling it over in my mind. I'm going to get one of those Interlocks and get prepared for the frequent outages at our new home. THANKS AGAIN!!!

The reason it's illegal is because your general Joe McPublic can't be trusted to do it safely. If it's done right, it is perfectly fine and safe. I'm glad you pointed out the block for the dedicated generator feed circuit because that is a good idea. Do you have a link to where those can be found?

Back feeding is like anything else. It should only be done by people who know what they’re doing and are willing to do it correctly. This video puts it in a really bad light. If the main breaker is off, back feeding is not going back to the street. Linemen will not be at risk either way as they always treat all lines as if they were live. Also, whenever backfeeding, make sure you only have essential breakers on, such as lights or whatever such that it doesn’t exceed the generators or back feeding circuits amp rating.

Here in Germany it is allowed to backfeed in the main if you have arranged it with the power provider. You also get money for the power you feed in. It's very common for those with solar panels on the roof to set something like that up because you can do something useful with the overproduced power you may have

I have a generator plug and do the exact same process. It's honestly something I don't even think about and would consider basic stuff but sometimes when you hear things explained so simply it puts things back into perspective. Back to the basics type of deal. Good job.

I built one of these in the U.K. to link two things together. I’m an electrician. I though because I’m an electrician I could get away with being lazy because I was in control. Shocked myself while unplugging it in front of my neighbor. Threw the thing away, changed one of the outlets to the correct type and made a new cable. Even “qualified” people like me aren’t safe from these monstrosities.

I keep it to an extension cord off my 4500w gen. running into the house. No attempt running through the house breaker box. I plug in our fridge, run lamps and electric skillet for hot food. We made it ten days without power after a massive ice storm. We're lucky to have a wood burning fireplace for heat. Amazing what you can do without and survive. Some would view my approach to this as the chicken way but it works within my own limitations.

You're back feeding with the 220 cable too. Like you said, the isolation from the main line is the issue. Your double sided plug example with the main breaker off works just the same, only without the safety bar.

It's only dangerous if you don't isolate your main feed first and if you overload the circuit you're feeding it through, so for instance a smaller generator will put out under 2000w, most socket circuits in the UK are made to handle that and it's unlikely the generator will be a danger to the circuit wiring, other than that you just need to attach the connection site while both the supply is disconnected and the generator is off. I do not advise the practice, simply I'd rather people know how to do it as safely as possible if they're gonna do it anyway

A male receptacle is a power inlet. A female receptacle is a power outlet. The generator outlet is physically on the generator. The male receptacle on the house or RV is the power inlet and you connect a proper cable from the generator outlet (located on the generator) to the power inlet on the house or RV. It seems you got some of the terminology confused in the video. Most people do not deal with power inlet receptacles so they some tend to call all receptacles "outlets" which, when dealing with inlets, is wrong and can be confusing to those learning how to do this correctly, especially when communicating their ideas with someone using the correct terminology. Otherwise, thanks for the video!

They can be used as a way to test your system prior to having the main power hooked up as well. Some just talk about the back feeding during an outage but never mention that when you run new lines or update current lines this is a way to do a quick test to see if things are all connected properly prior to having the main electric feed turned on. Also if the main power is not turned on this is a way to have a temporary electric feed for your power tools as you make other repairs.

Every holiday season, there are people who go looking for something like this because they accidentally wired up their Christmas lights in the wrong direction, and the hardware stores and home improvement stores have to tell them they don't sell them because it's illegal and unsafe. I'm shocked to see them being sold.

I have heard this line of crap many times, but if you ever do back feed the system with a small generator it instantly kills the generator because it can't supply the wattage requirements of the the entire electrical grid. You also do not need a double ended cable to do it. It depends on your generator and how you hook it to your system. The double ended cable is to supply both legs of your system if you do not have a 240 volt generator. You always have to disconnect the main breaker to make it work unless you have a transfer switch and a permanent installation.

As a lineman we always hang grounds so the electricity has a constant path to ground, if it is somehow reenergized but there are some situations where it doesn't always happen and a lineman gets killed from a generator backfeeding the line. I have seen an underground primary line backfed while we were working on it and there was an extremely violent arc flash, thankfully we still had our gloves on but it could have easily got someone killed.

I used to work at an electronics place and we'd have a few cables lying around with 3-prong male on one end and the other end was stripped with the three wires exposed. They would be used to hook up mains power to the devices we were testing and building. When I was new to the job I mentioned to my boss "That's gotta be the most dangerous thing in the building." He said, "No, _I'm_ the most dangerous thing in this building."

If you don't have a transfer switch installed, cutting the main is all you have to do. If you think someone might accidentally switch the main back on, get a LOTO for the main breaker or lock the entire panel closed. I understand that backfeeding an outlet is the last way you want to feed power to your system, but sometimes it can be a necessity. Just know what you're doing before you do it.

I lost my breaker box during a storm (water seeped into the box) so while they were changing it out I asked about a transfer switch, $200 I had a 6 breaker transfer switch installed and he even made me a 30ft cord to go from my garage to the plug on the back of the house. Used it many times and very easy and convenient.

The ONLY time I've ever seen a 'safe' usage of one of these was an off-grid cabin where the owner used a 15-amp receptacle to feed his cabin (small fridge, few lights). Therefore no grid to backfeed and the outside outlet WAS his input. The cabin was pretty remote so he wanted to be able to take his generator or solar generator with him while he was away. That said, even he later swapped it out for a covered male socket so he could use a regular extension cord.

My son and I installed solar panels (17 panels @ $5700 all in. Commercial quotes ranged from $30k to $45k) and he made me a cable designed to correctly connect a generator to a house. The city installed a net meter and a shutoff. For power outages, we turn everything off, flip the switch, connect the generator and turn it on. Then we turn things on, starting at the most crucial. Once I see the generator near capacity, we're done turning things back on. Since we rent camping trailers, including a generator, I always have at least one extra, so I could daisy-chain a couple generators and keep switching things back on...

Thanks for this video! I'm a master electrician and seeing a product like this being sold makes me so mad. Imagine if someone's kid gets a hold of this and plugs it into an outlet and grabs the other end. Someone is going to die with a product like this on the market. Its one thing for someone who (hopefully) knows what they're doing to make a setup like this to get themselves out of a pickle, but this should not be something that is mass marketed. I checked out the ad on amazon and its sold from multiple sellers as for being connected to a transfer switch and as having safety features. A bunch of lies. I know some people that sit on electrical code council and forwarded this to them. Hopefully they can get this in front of someone who can get it pulled from the US market before someone dies...

I need one of these. The previous tenants put up string lights on the back patio. However, the female end is by the outlet. This would be great!

Another disadvantage of just using a male-to-male cable and backfeeding into a regular outlet is that all the power you're feeding in goes through cables and fuses that aren't meant for very high power, usually around 2.3kW. By getting a dedicated connection to feed into you can use bigger wires and fuses

Good message. While I've temporarily used something similar only once before, a lapse in judgement doing so could get someone killed. This was on a house for which the meter was removed, so there was little risk to a line worker.

In the electrical trade, I’ve always referred to these as “suicide cables,” but I’ve heard “death cables,” “killer cords,” and I heard one old timer once say, “a properly pissed off pixie plug.” That last one has always stuck with me. It’s not uncommon to get an apprentice that doesn’t know any better to accidentally make one of these, usually in temporary power situations. I’ve always stressed how dangerous it is, especially on the US’s 240v/277v systems.

I have to be honest. I had to make one yesterday. Had a storm, had no power all day. Got a 1 fridge/freezer and 1 freezer which we had to keep cold. So I made one, hooked it up the generator and well, served its purpose. Most definitely going to look into getting a switch installed in our fuse box to switch from mains to generator so I never have to make one again. It be scary is an understatement. Note, im in the UK so our fuse boxes also known as consumer units are different to other ones.

Nothing wrong with this if you use your head. I made a 240v version of this to feed my house when I lose power for days on end after a hurricane. I pull my meter and shut off my main breaker, then feed power to my house from my generator through my welding receptacle and breaker, into my house. It powers everything. Just had to do it for Hurricane Ian. Always kill your main breaker and pull your meter to give a nice air gap so your generator cant backfeed through your weatherhead and up to the transformer. The transformer can convert secondary voltage into primary voltage and send it out on downed lines that linemen are trying to work on.

We cobbled one of these together to temporarily connect the power strips in two equipment racks together for testing before installation -- giving it the nickname "Jones Death Plug". (The racks were normally hard wired into AC when they were installed). Although we zip tied the cables into the receptacles and hung warning tags on them it still gave me the willies that some unaware tech would wind up grabbing an unplugged hot end and get injured. We yanked it out and beheaded it as soon as we were done. Scary that these things can actually be purchased.

I've never fully understood the dangers here. I get with the main breaker not turned off you could backfeed to the street but then you would be trying to run everyone's house off your generator which would immediately pop the breaker on the generator if not the breakers in the house. I've actually been doing this for years but always make sure my main breaker is off.

If you have to suicide cord backfeed, shutoff the main breaker and make sure you backfeed into your 30A(or even 50A) dryer outlet. If you backfeed into a normal outlet, you're wasting energy from your generator and risking fire from overloading the much smaller wire on that 15A circuit.

I've used a male-to-male plug many times to go from a 240V 30A generator outlet to a house clothes dryer receptacle. I recommend doing it the legal way and using proper dedicated receptacle and an interlock or transfer switch, but if you are just totally resistant to that idea then make a checklist and tape it over the generator outlet. It should have these steps: 1) Turn off main power breaker in house electrical box 2) Make sure generator breaker is off 3) Plug in both cord ends 4) Start generator 5) Turn on generator breaker I'm not promoting people do it this way over the legal way, but I do think if someone makes it a rule to follow a sequence TO THE LETTER every time they do it, they can avoid getting killed or backfeeding. Just reverse everything for shutdown. Also don't do this at all with a regular 120V house outlet. It's not made for that much power draw. The wire is too light and the breaker is too small. If your breaker fails and doesn't pop when it should, you'll have a house fire.

Wow, totally awed. The island got hit pretty hard by Fiona and I used this method for the 2 weeks we were without power. Yup, I used that same cord for 2 weeks straight. I shut down the main power and all the fuses in the electrical box except for the kitchen and living room one. Didn’t need to run the whole house just needed the fridge, a fan and power for charging phone, ipad and fan. Now watching this video has me scared to do it again even though I never had an issue using this type of cable with my inverter generator. Thanks for the info.

I do this one step worse. I backfeed a larger 240v cable from my generator to the house during power outages. But, I have a large, separate 200a main disconnect with a large lever that I completely disconnect before I even think of starting up the generator.I also go through my breakers to make sure any very high demand items are taken out of the equation that my generator can't handle. I then periodically check with my voltmeter or neighbors if the power is back on before disconnecting my generator or flipping the main back on. I do take this very seriously and have nothing but respect for not sending any unexpected voltage back up the lines to hydro workers.

I have told this story on somebody else's Chan Some time back. A friend of mine had bought a 5000 Watt generator and he was back feeding into one of his wall outlets. He couldn't understand why his generator kept tripping out even after he had turned everything off inside the house. I had to explain to him and told him pretty much everything you covered in this video. Well done on that 😀

Remember when you back feed a utility line that the transformers at the poles are bidirectional and will take your 240V or whatever and energize the line to power co voltage ~12,000v depending on the line voltage.This would kill a line worker.

I got a generlink installed. It’s the next best thing next to a standby generator, no transfer switches or back feeding.

My father has fallen victim to these kill cables before. In a factory he pulled out a 240v plug and ended up pressing all the prongs into his hand as he was pulling it out. The shock threw him back and he was in the hospital for a head injury for weeks. He told me the electrician's safety secret: he'd be dead if one of his hands wasn't in his pocket as the shock could have easily travelled through his heart and killed him. Now he, and I, treat electrical cables extremely cautiously.

Never knew people did this. I was fortunate. When I was a child, my dad was the safety NCO in his flight, so he was a stickler for things done right. I grew up in a military, common sense-driven household even after dad retired. Our generator had its own little house in the backyard and a transfer switch box near the power meter main breaker box. Every time the power went out, I was on generator duty. Such a sense of urgency I had running down the stairs unsafely to go flip switches and levers and crank that annoyingly loud Coleman generator.🤓

Thanks for the super informative videos - although we don’t even own a generator yet it is awesome to know what would be involved to *safely* connect it to our house for power. Wonder if you might do a video on extension cords in general and demystifying the different gauges/grades. Also, most importantly, what cords don’t kink and/or what are best practices for extension cord maintenance and storage so they aren’t a tangled mess. As always, thanks for the great videos.

I've used the "double male" plug method to back-feed my house many, many times... of course, only after opening the main service disconnect first. Perfectly safe, IF you know what you are doing (35+ yrs. as an electrician helps). In a pinch, this method will keep your house (or at least part of it) supplied with energy during an outage. Be aware, however, that you will only be feeding 120 volts to HALF of your house. Which half is dependent upon which buss-bar the particular outlet (and circuit breaker) you are back-feeding is connected to in your utility panel. Also, it is very important to open any 240-volt breakers to prevent possible cross-feed/back-feed through the neutral. Open (turn off) all 240v loads such as water heaters, electric dryers, electric ranges, etc. BTW, that generator connection is not called an "outlet", it's an actually an "inlet". Outlets (aka, receptacles) are the female-gendered connection. Because these are male connections, they are not, by definition, "outlets". Of course, the safest method is as described, with an approved interlock device, or a properly installed transfer swich.

I live alone and I'm not as stupid as most people. I can do this safely because I will remember to flip the switch and be careful not to touch the plug while the generator is running. How do I KNOW I'll remember to shut the breaker? Because I think about this every day I look at the generator in my garage. I would think "If power gets restored while this thing is running, won't that destroy all my electronics with double the power?" I don't know if it will, but I will always remember to flip the main breaker switch if the day comes. I never had to use a generator, but I will be doing it the illegal way should the day come.

I used to work at a hardware store, and every November through the 2nd week of December we'd always get people asking for these types of cables, and when we said "they don't make them" or "we don't sell them because they aren't within code." we'd always get the "well I've bought them from here before!" or "Well I'll just make one then!"

The only thing I have ever 'backfed' was directly into my gas furnace. I completely removed the breaker for that circuit from the panel before doing so to isolate that circuit from the rest of the system, so it was being fed safely. (my furnace has a female 120v outlet on the outside underneath a switch that controls power to the furnace, for reference).

This is a really great safety tip. I never once considered that installing a generator incorrectly could energize external lines. 👍🏻👍🏻

If you have a small generator and are only running a couple of loads, you can do the "spaghetti" thing where you run extension cords to various places in the house and just bypass the house wiring entirely. But that isn't always safe either - if you don't understand wire gauge issues and the limits on how long certain cable runs can be, you can get yourself in real trouble doing that. At best, you might fry something from low voltage, at worst the cord will suddenly catch on fire. Don't start plugging extension cord into extension cord into extension cord, that is incredibly dangerous if you don't know the gauge of the wire in each cord and the total length of the run. Most extension cords are simply not made with thick enough wire to allow that. I plugged a box fan in once after doing what I thought was probably too long of a run with multiple extension cords, thinking, yeah, it is such a small load, it won't be a problem. WRONG. It seemed absolutely fine at first, but it started to sound a little funny so I went over to look at it. The thin cord of the box fan suddenly got very hot. Like too hot to touch hot. I unplugged it probably seconds before it would have caught fire. And even the thicker extension cord earlier in the run was very warm. You get a significant voltage drop at the end of a run that is too long, and then very bad things happen, even if the load is relatively small.

I'm no certified electrician, but I DO have common sense... any manufacturer producing and selling "suicide cords" should be fined and possibly held liable for injury or death from the use of these cords. I installed a two circuit transfer switch into my main panel, one circuit going to furnace, and the other to lights, and a couple of emergency only outlets that I can use to power a few items I might need in a power outage. I can run my emergency power needs with a 2000 watt inverter generator, and have about 1200 watts left over for whatever I might need to power.

As a kid, my dad got pissed that people would steal our 50 ft cord used to plug in the car when it was -20 out. People would steal it, ripping it down from the two trees that was in to cross the sidewalk. So he got a new cord, and then he cut the cord in the middle, and made two cords, one like the one in the video (but 25 ft long) and one with two female plugs. You also needed a ladder to get the second cord down-it was tied to a high branch- but without the plug ion the middle, you could pull hard enough and it would come free. Someone ripped down the cord one more time and left it in the bush, and that was the last time-I guess it looked like too much hassle for them. After that, no more problems.

I have a generator and built a cord to cord it backfeed it into my dryer outlet. I read in the code that this is legal if you lock the main breaker in the off position. I bought a breaker lock and a paddle lock to secure it. This was said to be legal for emergency use only when I looked it up in the electrical code. I have not tried it. I am not an electrician but I am an electrical engineer so feel comfortable around electricity. The generator runs on propane. Hopefully I will never need it. Basically I bought it for the big earthquake to power my radios in my role as the local emergency service volunteer for our neighborhood.

They make automatic contact switches that will switch the circuit in event of power cut, Used Mainly in solarPV installs or Battery storage systems.

“I was shocked to see RU-vid videos promoting these backfeed cables”. I see watt you did there 😉

Something else to keep in mind, is that sometimes outlets are fed with 14awg rather than 12awg, which is only good for 15 amps rather than 20 amps. So if you were to choose the wrong outlet, you could end up damaging the wires as other things in the house try to pull more power than they can handle.

I have heard that item is called a Suicide Cable. When I worked retail, some people came in looking for one. No matter how much we say it is illegal and dangerous, they insist on getting one. Strange how none of them ever returned. 🙄🙄

This is my favorite you tube channel ever, it’s so well said, understandable

All the years I worked at Ace hardware people would ask for those cords around Christmas time. I would politely decline selling them, and explain how dangerous they are. Unlike your example, people would string up their Christmas lights the wrong way and look for an easy fix. It's crazy what they try to do just to get around doing things the right way.

Wait a second, why did I watch this whole thing

As a licensed electrician, I have people ask me how to backfeed their house with their generator all the time and I can’t (and wouldn’t anyway) legally tell them. However, I do have a 50 amp backfeed plug in my garage that I installed directly below the panel. Bottom line, IF YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU’RE DOING and have the proper equipment, backfeeding can be done safely.

At my last job building sheds, these were a great way to test the wiring in a shed without having to tie everything in the breakerbox

I have been doing this for years, here in my country all those security panels and plugs to connect generators do not exist, so when the electricity goes off or there is a close thunderstorm that can fry your house electric equipment, we just shut down our panel terminal switches and plug the generator with a cable like that one, if you follow the correct steeps and you have it inside your property where no one else should touch it, is not that unsafe, but selling the already made cable that anyone without basic electricity knowledge can be really dangerous as you say in the video.

It's sad how many people advocate suicide cords like these. I even saw a RU-vid video recommending them from a guy who claimed to be a professional electrician. That's one electrician I would never hire for any job! The worst part is that improper backfeeding can injure or kill utility workers, not just the people using the cords. Feeding your panel the right way isn't any harder, it just takes a little forethought.

That cord is called a suicide cord for a reason. As a utilities electrician in south Louisiana, I’ve heard of a few lineman getting caught by a backfeeding generator. I’ve also heard of people plugging one end of the cord into a power supply and grabbing the other end. It’s crazy that some people know so little about electricity.

I have never seen these kind of plugs before, but I can immediately tell it looked suspicious and dangerous.

Hi, Electrician from Germany here. A lot of Things you said are correct, but I would say the main concern for Powerplantz about backfeeding are the not synchronized voltage spikes of AC, which effectively is increasing Voltage in any outlet and furthermore in your Generator, which can cause serious Damage.

I worked for a national hardware chain about a decade ago. I was a JOAT and did a lot of small appliance, electrical repairs. A customer asked if I could fabricate one of these for him, I declined, explaining basically everything you've said. He got angry, demanded to speak to the manager. The boss told him the same thing, no. I asked him several times what he needed it for and he refused to say.

I didn't consider the safety side. I did do considered that energy may be back anytime and mains would fight the generator resulting in a nice boom.

These death cords are something that falls into the category of “if you can’t make it yourself, you shouldn’t be using it”, I mean, they can be safe if you know exactly what you’re doing, but it requires quite a bit of knowledge.

I backfeed every time I lose power. If you don't know what you are doing, then don't do it.

I made one of those about 25 feet long once, to power a remote circuit from house current. Worked damn well.

As an old as dirt, long time coworker, 'Pappy', used to say, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

As a beneficiary of IBEW, it shocks me that people can be so stupid, as I'm sure this is explained in the operating manual. Thank you for putting this video out so our lineman don't get seriously hurt or killed, and illegal activity is avoided.

You just have to turn off the main breaker going back to the power company

I hate electricity! I was zapped many times as a kid, freaks me out to this day. I was zapped a few times by 220V, and also by power lines touching a tree while i was climbing it. Also i was blinded by a capacitor once. its a miracle i survived my childhood lol. As an adult I let real electricians take care of this stuff! If someone has this kind of cable make sure your kids dont find it...

Why am i just learning this at 40 yrs old? This needs to be taught in school. I was 30 when i found out you dont run a car inside a garage. Glad i found the information before i was killed. Im not a mechanic or an electrician. 🤗

UK power workers always put jump leads between the power lines before working on them. This will trip any supply that may be back feeding into the lines.

“Suicide cable” is what we call them.

thanks for the truth Think. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Even if you think you know what you are doing, you might not be there when an unknowing innocent stumbles on this kind of method and think it is OK / safe. Please avoid tragedy.

Gay electric cable

We actually use this kind of cord (not with the same plugs) here in Brazil to use voltage transformers, since they have 2 female plugs so you can connect anything to either end and just use one of these on the other.