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I paid an electrician to install a generator inlet box on the outside of my home. He, however, installed an NEMA 14-50 outlet. Female, 4 prong 50 amp inlet. I noticed this problem immediately when trying to find a cable to plug my generator into it.

Nobody sells a male to male cable likely due to UL817 says you shouldn't do that. I would need male to male to connect my generator, obviously, because my generator has a female outlet and he installed a female outlet. My reading says he should have certainly installed the NEMA 14-50 female inlet (CS6375 I believe) instead. As exposed blades on both ends would obviously be an electrocution risk.

What is the correct course of action here, if any?

  1. Just make a male to male cable with the appropriate gauge cable since I can't find a single vendor that sells one

  2. Have the outlet replaced with a a proper inlet

  3. Some sort of adapter

Any electricians, particularly within the US, know what you would do in this situation? Or home inspectors I suppose. My particular state is Pennsylvania and my generator is an 11400 watt (running) Firman trigas portable generator.

He did install a lockout and new breaker in my panel that I have confirmed so far seems to be installed correctly. There should be no backfeed risk.

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    He knew 100% what I was doing. I wanted a generator inlet and that I wanted a 50 amp receptacle. While I have experience doing electrical work, its in aviation, which is why I didn't know exactly what he did was not correct. Commented 2 days ago
  • Your second sentence in the comment does not make sense unless there was suppose to be a not in there. Commented 2 days ago
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    I am not asking how to deal with them. I am asking if the work was done in a way that is acceptable from people that do this work. And this forum is filled with people asking questions very much like this on generator hookups. I checked. Commented 2 days ago
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    post a pic of what's installed on the house Commented yesterday
  • Is he paid yet? Commented 1 hour ago

4 Answers 4

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#2 is the only right answer.

It absolutely should not be an outlet with the generator connected by a male-to-male cord. That creates the possibility of having the house end of the cord unplugged while the generator is running and the blades of the male plug hot. Male-to-male "adapters" are called suicide adapters for a reason.

Any reputable electrician should immediately recognize the problem and be very eager to correct the mistake. I would guess that the job wasn't permitted since it would have failed inspection. If the electrician isn't willing to make it right, it might help to make a call to the folks who do inspections in your area. There are some jobs that an electrician doesn't have to pull a permit for – because the assumption is that they know how to do it right and understand the importance of doing their job correctly. I'd guess that an inspector would take some interest in this…

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Not only #2 is the only proper option, but the proper generator connection requires some sort of interlock mechanism that securely prevents energizing the generator (or the inlet) from the utility power or returning the generator power to the utility wires.

This usually happens at the main panel because there it is relatively cheap and hassle-free, but can as well be somewhere else (e.g. near the gen inlet).

Not having the proper means for switching between the utility and the generator usually goes with a female generator socket (as in your case). This, at best, requires using a suicide cord, knowing what you are doing very well and never, ever making a single mistake.

The risks of using a suicide cord range between electrocuting yourself or another house resident, electrocuting the linemen working to restore your electricity or burning your generator or your house down. Such a setup is also a good reason to decline a fire insurance claim.

In short, get a sane electrician to fix the mess and accept the cost.

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    This. Get a competent electrician (or better, call the city to see if they will send an inspector out even if the job wasn't permitted) to look the whole thing over to be sure that all of the Is are dotted and the Ts are crossed. Given your experience to date, I would be very concerned about the interlock (or lack thereof). Commented yesterday
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    Instead of an interlock at the panel, it could also be a transfer switch separate from the panel. Commented yesterday
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#2 unless you asked for a receptacle instead of an inlet.

Changing it to an inlet is quite simple now that most of the installation work (running wire from panel) has been done.

A male to male cord is also known as a suicide cord for good reason.

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  • I contacted him already and told him it very likely should have been a CS6375 inlet and he said male to male will work. I paid this bum way too much to do this in the first place. Second electrician I have had to redo their work, assuming I can't get him here. The last one didn't seem to even know how to wire a ceiling fan. Thought I was getting a good one this time because he was word of mouth from my very good general contractor. Commented 2 days ago
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    @rlperez Quite sure him saying to use a male to male is enough to lose his license, or at least get a good talking to and fines. Commented 2 days ago
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    @crip659 that's assuming he actually has a genuine license Commented yesterday
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    You might try letting him know that you're going to call an inspector to come and see his work, and you'll be sharing the "electrician's" name and contact information with the inspector if the situation is not corrected. Commented yesterday
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There can be confusion regarding inlet, outlet, whatever, and the generator inlet box is not a 14-50R as in receptacle.

you want a "generator inlet box" on the house they have male pins recessed in the box, which is technically a 14-50P as in plug;

assuming the 14-50 (50 amp) connection everywhere:

  • if the receptacle on the generator is a twist lock it'll be SS2-50R / CS6364. Non locking is a 14-50R
    • your cord plugging into the generator if twist lock will need a SS2-50P plug or CS6365, non locking is 14-50P.
  • the house generator inlet box will be recessed 14-50P
    • the cord end going to the generator inlet box will have a CS6364 / SS2-50R if a twist lock setup, or a 14-50R if not twist lock
  • the SS stands for ship-to-shore; the CS is california standard. I personally would look for SS rather than CS as the recent history with things there like the failed high speed rail and the billions spent for nothing operational I wouldn't trust my safety with a california standard.
  • if what you have installed on the house doesn't look like this then change it to be this:

as for the cord and box...

https://www.amazon.com/CircleRiver-Generator-14-50P-SS2-50R-Locking/dp/B0BL2GR527?th=1

here is an example of the correct cord to use regarding the 14-50 size:

https://www.absolutegenerators.com/reliance-generator-power-cord-50-amp-10-foot-14-50-cs6364-5

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    I don't see how the comment about California adds any value to this answer. Might it be better off without it? Commented 6 hours ago

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